My So-Called Life

Dining Chair Seat Recovering

2012-01-22T18:54:00.003-07:00

Just finished a project that took much longer than I thought it would - putting new fabric on my dining room chairs. Of course, every step was harder and took longer than I had expected. But I'm happy with the results.

Six pretty chairs all finished!

Ugly old chairs.

Here's a recap.

1. I decided to first rip off one seat cover and make a pattern from the old fabric. Getting the screws out to remove the seat was hard and I was puzzled that most of the chairs had only three screws instead of four. Pulling out the staples was also tough. I had to pry with a screwdriver and pull with pliers. Took almost half an hour for one chair. I didn't do the next five chairs until a week later, and I did find some efficiencies and got the time down to about 10 minutes per chair. With the fabric off, drew a pattern on brown paper.

2. I was going to buy new fabric, but then I remembered I had, stuck away in a drawer, some pieces of the fabric left over from when I had my couch recovered - about 20 years ago! I pulled it out, it looked great. In fact, holding it up next to my couch, I couldn't believe how little the couch has faded in that time. Problem: The were not big enough pieces to lay out all six chairs. Solution A; Buy new fabric. Solution B: Piece together from existing. I opted for Solution B figuring the only thing I lose is time if it doesn't work. I cut six rectangles 17" wide by 23" long for the center pieces, and then 12 rectangles. 6" wide by 23" long. Stitched them together creating a piece big enough for my pattern (had to learn to use my new sewing machine, which delayed me about an hour or so). I didn't worry about matching with the busy pattern on this fabric and I figured the seams would be nearly invisible on the chairs. I was right. Cut out six pieces.

Here are pieces of fabric on the matching couch. There's the batting.

Stitching the pieces, twelves straight seams, no problem once I learned how to use my machine.

Now the pattern fit nicely on the pieced-together fabric.

3. I bought new foam and batting as the old foam in these chairs was close to 30 years old and pretty sad shape. The fabric store had the batting but no foam. After some running around, I finally found some perfect size foam sheets at Smith's supermarket. I lay the seat board on the foam and drew around with a marker and then cut out six pieces using my old electric knife. I took the time later to trim them a little more carefully to the board as I didn't want the foam to overhang the edges, but just the fabric and batting. I laid a piece of foam on the batting and measured about an inch bigger all around and cut the first piece. This was my pattern for the next five.

Cut the foam with my old electric knife. That thing is finally good for something.

4. Found the staple gun and practiced stapling until I found the right size staples. Then assembled the pieces for one seat, fabric, batting, foam and board, and stapled the sides, tucked and gathered the corners and stapled them down securely. I still needed to attach the seat, but I was ready to quit. To get this far had taken most of my three-day weekend. I was discouraged and didn't touch the project again for a week.

One seat finished though not yet attached.

5. Things went better the next round. I got the five seats off and patiently pulled staples while watching a documentary. I decided the wood portions of the chairs needed some TLC, so I purchased some wood cleaner and restorative. It was a warm day and I was able to do this work on the patio (the restorative is flammable).

6. Finally, in an assembly line, I assembled and stapled the remaining five covers trying to perfect the corners--the toughest part.

7. When removing the seats, I had carefully numbered each chair and seat so I could match them up again, assuming the screw holes might not be aligned if I switched them around. A power drill made screwing the seats to the chairs again the fastest work of all.

The cost of the project was about $12 for the foam and I think it was $10 for the batting. The chairs now match my couch (not that I was striving for that), and I know this is good quality, durable fabric--I won't have to do this again for a long time, if ever. Thank goodness.

Another project - here we go again

2012-01-18T17:08:00.002-07:00

Well, I finally called my contractor and had a meeting about the last big remodeling project for my house--the basement and garage. Business has been slow and he is ready to start almost immediately. We'll go over his quote and options when he has it together. And then we start. I don't plan to blog this day by day as I did the kitchen. And certainly the disruption will be nothing like the kitchen was. As I told my contractor, I'm basically getting my house into "ready to sell" condition but then plan to live in it for at least five more years or longer, depending on my ability to take care of it myself.

I've put this one off for a long time and finally somehow managed to make that phone call this week to set the wheels in motion. Stay tuned.

Do all you can do

2012-01-01T11:33:00.001-07:00

Is it the army that has the motto "Be all you can be?" I've been thinking about that this morning as we embark on the new year. That phrase has two meanings to me--neither of which appeal to me as a choice for 2012. Being is simply existing. We are already that--each and every one of us--until we die. No distinction there. The army quote has more to do with belonging to something or being a certain "thing." Be a soldier, be a good citizen, be a helper, be a mom, be a friend . . .

But these are labels and for some reason I've begun to shun labels of all sorts. Rather than "be", I want to "DO".

I don't want to be a writer, an artist, a musician, a photographer, a gardener. I simply want to be a person who does those things without being pigeonholed. It's like I told my son-in-law when he bought those spandex biking shirts and shorts, "Now people will expect you to be a serious biker." For that reason, I won't invest in any spandex bike wear. I wear regular shorts and shirts when I ride my bike and feel no pressure to compete, but to simply sail along at my own pace enjoying the wind in my face.

Maybe it's a cop-out or fear of failure. Could be, I don't know. All I know is that I desire the freedom of doing things without judgment and with no expectations for a certain outcome. I don't want to carry labels as if a thing defines me and not the other way around. At work I'm called a technical writer, but to myself I simply do technical writing. At home I putter around the garden, I play at the piano, I dabble in water colors. If I achieve any degree of success, it's a delightful surprise. And if I have failures, well I'm no pro, so I can expect those.

The one exception I make to labels is "grandma". I am a grandma through and through and there I demand of myself the highest quality output. But it's pretty easy being a grandma.

So my approach in 2012 will be to do all I can do. Shun labels. And not worry about success or failures -- it's all part of the process.

Savor Life

2011-12-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

That's my only new year's resolution for 2012 -- Savor Life!

It was a good year 2011. It was my year of metamorphosis, moving into the next phase of life. As much as anything, it was a mental process but there were measurable milestones that helped me see progress.

My primary goal of better health yielded good results. In December a required health screening for health insurance showed all tests well within normal. I've gained strength and stamina and lost weight with my exercise program. I feel so grateful for good health.

My photography, gardening, painting, music, movies, and even cooking (yes, I'm returning to cooking), all call to me when I'm spending those hours working at a computer. I am so ready to leave the working world behind in just one more year.

Every day when I wake up, I think, "Oh, good, I got another one." I've learned to lean into my hardships and deal with them, and to positively relish the joyful times.

And that brings me back to my resolution - Savor Life!

Happy 2012 to all of us.

My Christmas Card to You

2011-12-23T15:46:00.003-07:00

I had hoped to make hand-painted cards for everyone on my list his year, but found it was much more difficult than I had anticipated. But I managed to make a few following two different themes and experimenting as I went. Here are a couple of them plus the one with message I posted on Facebook. I know they aren't the best, but they are what I managed and I felt happy to get these done. It was fun anyway.

Happy holidays to all!

Blizzard Bear

Another Blizzard Bear

All is calm, all is bright

Total Eclipse of the Moon - December 10, 2011

2011-12-10T07:34:00.001-07:00

I am still using the auto settings on my camera or I might have gotten a better shot. But isn't an eclipse a cool thing? It gets you thinking about how centuries of people have observed these events, what it has meant, and what science has learned about the moon and its travels -- so far. And certainly there is more to discover.

Please Come Home For Christmas

2011-12-08T17:49:00.001-07:00

A video for the season.

Gratitude

2011-11-19T05:58:00.001-07:00

Sometimes a little perspective is good. Yesterday, talking with my friend on the phone and discussing our respective Thanksgiving plans, she planted a reminder so stark by comparison that I felt startled and saw my present life with new eyes.

This year there will be 11 of us at my table--children, grandchildren, and a couple of their friends. The food will be non-traditional with no big golden bird as a centerpiece. Salmon will be the highlight but with sliced turkey and ham available too. And many sides. I've consulted everyone and asked them for their favorite dish and there will be something to please everyone. It will be fun and different. With such a crowd coming, I've had a brainstorm for fitting them all in -- I am moving my dining room furniture into the spacious living room and the couch and chairs are getting relegated to the dining room. I'll serve appetizers and drinks on my server. I'll use my new dishes and I'm so glad I bought 12 place settings. I described all of this to my friend on the phone.

And then my friend asks me, did I remember five years ago, just after she had moved back here from California, and I had decided not to even have Thanksgiving that year. I sent my kids off to celebrate elsewhere and I stayed home alone and did nothing. What a dark place I was in at the time. Separated from my husband and life in limbo. Feeling terribly wounded body and soul.

How did I get to here from there?

I don't know if I have answers or any profound advice. Only to say that not only do bad things happen in all our lives, but that this is evidence of the resilience of the human spirit when we allow it to be. I know I have a basic spark in me that loves life and people and looks for good in the world. I am an optimist in spirit. And seeking joyful things brings joy in abundance.

It has been a good year as I look back. A very good year. And I am happy with all the people and experiences that have graced my life. I've lost what religious leanings I ever had, and I don't think the cosmos or a rabbit's foot have any say in my life either. So I'm never quite sure now what to do with feelings of gratitude. But I do feel, nevertheless, that my life is good and not entirely of my own doing.

For me, at this point in my life, let it suffice to say that I know I have a good life and I sincerely and humbly appreciate that and will not take for granted the good things. And will do my best to weather the bad when they come. And accept all life has to offer with increasing understanding and grace.

October - Catching Up

2011-11-14T17:31:00.001-07:00

This is what you call lazy blogging. I took one of my favorite get-away trips in October -- Bryce Canyon for just one day, and then a drive up beautiful Highway 12 to Capitol Reef National Park and Torrey, Utah. I've already posted pictures on Facebook, so to make it easy, I'll link to my albums here.
Bryce Canyon

Highway 12

Torrey, Utah and Capitol Reef and more rock art near Torrey

And just days after I returned home, a neighbor couple and I threw a big party at my house for all the neighborhood and other family and friends. I failed to get pictures of everyone there, but got extas of my family members. Sigh. A good time was had by all.
Halloween Party

In addition, finished up nearly all the clearing out in basement and garage and I'm ready to talk to the contractor and get this project going. It was a very good October.

What'll I Do?

2011-11-13T06:53:00.001-07:00

In 13 months I'll retire. I'm literally counting the months now. And everything I do is in preparation for this new phase of life. Not that I'm treading water or anything right now. I'm still working and playing and doing all the things I love. But I am preparing.

"What will you do?" That's the number one question people ask me when I mention retiring.

What'll I do? Hah! I will do all the things I do now only I won't have to fit in eight hours of work around them. I'll be able to work in the yard when the temperatures are cool. I'll be able to do more of the work myself and not hire helpers as much. I'll be able to ride my bike on weekdays when the young fast riders are at work. I'll paint when I'm awake and fresh and when the light is good. I'll read during the day instead of at bedtime which puts me to sleep. I'll help more with getting grand kids to and from school so their parents don't have to do such fancy juggling of their schedules. I'll cook more and have people to dinner. I'll play more piano and guitar. And take some lessons--both music and painting. I'll write more consistently and thoughtfully. I'll walk every day but will find some new trails and vistas. I'll take day trips to see birds and to photograph sights. I will still do the concerts, movies, dining out with my friends. Why would that change?

In short, I will do all the things I loving doing now but will have prime time for them instead of fitting them into the fringes of my day. Maybe I'll add some new things, too. I'm open to the possibilities. But I don't see myself being idle or bored.

And I'm preparing. For some months now I've put myself on a very strict budget, living on less than what my social security check will be, though in retirement I will also have a pension check. My goal is to live frugally and put my pension check into savings. If I need it, it's there. I am putting a large portion of my paycheck now into a 401k (well, it's really a 407-something or other), my savings continue to grow. I feel confident I will live comfortably on my income when I no longer work and will even be able to continue saving.

And I'm not suffering in my frugality. I took a nice little vacation to Bryce Canyon, Highway 12, and Capitol Reef in October, and I bought a lovely set of dishes, managed birthday gifts and dinners and several outings with friends, some new clothing for me, all within budget without drawing on savings. Oh, and threw a big Halloween party for the neighborhood. How could I complain?

I will be getting that remodeling done in the basement soon and that will require drawing on some of my savings - it's part of the plan. But then the major work in the house is all finished. I will still paint a room occasionally or update things here and there. But it will be my home for as long as I can manage it and I will enjoy all the updates now instead of doing them for new owners when the time comes I decide to sell.

And that's what I'll do. For starters . . .

P..S. I will not be one of those Red Hat Ladies who have taken something that is all about uniqueness and individuality and made it all about sameness.

Watercolor: Dogs in Snow

2011-10-22T06:46:00.002-06:00

No time to blog, I'm taking a little drive out of town for a few days and then throwing a neighborhood party next weekend. That will about do it for October. Much progress was made this month and I want to write about it, but that will wait until November. I'm just heading out the door in a few moments. So here's a little post to tide us over. It's my latest watercolor. It's my friend's dogs, Hap and Roxann, in snow. A white dog in snow was a new challenge and I'm afraid I didn't get the proportions quite right, but I think I did capture the mid-bound of Roxann running toward the camera. I did this on postcard stock thinking to mail it to my friend as a surprise, but I liked it so much when I finished, I enclosed it in a letter to save it from the dirty machinery of the U.S. Postal Service. I'm eager to get back to painting, but it will wait until November. In the meantime, enjoy Hap and Roxann, dogs in snow.

October

2011-10-04T13:00:00.000-06:00

October

From my open window

This mild October morning

A breeze

With musky, ripe scent
Swirls through my space and me.

The giant elm across theway

Soughs, bends, straightens

Slowly,

With age-stiffened limbs

Not unlike my own.

Silhouetted against astill-dark sky,

Its leafy fullness

Shows no hint of changes

Soon to come.

Neighbor houses closed uptight

In their man-made coolness

Will not share this pleasure

I enjoy—a treat

For all the senses.

I sit by open window

My house fragrant

With the new season.

I breathe of it deeply

And feel a kinship.

I, too, am autumn.

My day ahead is busy,

I feel duties

Tugging

Pulling me away

But the breeze persuadesme

To sit a bit longer.

To feel this coolness

And taste a deliciousripeness

And receive the subtlemessages

Of change.

Perspective

2011-10-02T08:13:00.002-06:00

No matter what I do to impose difficulty or risk in my life, nothing can compare to that faced by those in true dire conditions. I'm thinking, for example, of a news story from a few months ago saying that 29,000 children under the age of six had died of starvation in Somalia over a period of about six months.

I have given myself some personal challenges. But in so doing, I understand how little I am really risking. If I begin to feel a little sorry for myself or sad or deprived, I remind myself how petty and vain I am being.

I put up signs around the house to remind me of people who are really suffering in the world. This is helping me to make my self-imposed challenges more about personal self-control and less about deprivation.

I fail because I can

2011-09-29T07:42:00.003-06:00

Are you ever just drifting along, not paying much attention, when unexpectely you hear something rather profound that then gets stuck in your head and makes you feel like you've had a mini revelation? This happened to me.

I was watching a silly sitcom I like, Modern Family, last night, when one of the characters said something that struck me. The situation was, the father wanted to walk a tightrope and kept falling off a wire stretched just inches above the ground. Then his young son said, "You fall because you can." The father had a sudden realization and then raised the wire to maybe six feet, and managed to walk across without falling.

As I watched I kept thinking about that phrase, "You fall because you can." I changed fall to fail. I fail in some of my goals because I have a safety net, I know I'm not going to suffer any great consequences if I fail. It's when something big and important is at stake that I can really step up to the challenge.

So if that's the case, do I need to insert risk into my challenge in order to be successful? And how to do that? Anything I do would be an artificial risk. I don't have an answer to that question--just thinking aloud, so to speak.

Anyway, this is something I'm thinking about today: I fail because I can. How do I change my personal goals and challenges so that failure is not an option?

Watercolor Class and How I Spent My Summer Vacation

2011-09-02T07:19:00.003-06:00

To call the summer a whirlwind, understates it. In June my son and his wife, after trying for a year and a half, sold their house in Layton and bought a home in my little town of North Salt Lake--and my life changed. With them living nearby, I'm now able to help much more with the children and assist the parents who both work. Through June, July and August, 8-year old Kevin spent his days with me since I worked from home and he was able to play and entertain himself just fine. But 4-year old Brandon went to daycare as it was too much for me to manage both while working. Now Kevin is back in school and I don't have my daily companion. But Brandon has started going to the daycare provided by a neighbor who lives just behind me. However, since they don't open until 7 a.m. and both parents start work at 7, he comes and stays with me for a half hour and then I walk him to his "school" before logging on for my own workday. It works out well and saves that little family some extra costs. The bonus for me and for them is this one-on-one time I've enjoyed with these little boys.

The drawback has been that at the end of the day of working and caring for an 8-year old, I felt too tired to follow my established walking routine from the spring. Plus keeping up with the yard work provided other calorie-burning opportunities. Somehow I maintained my weight through the summer and stayed with my healthy eating habits. This week I returned to my walking and it was such a pleasure--like meeting an old friend. I'm now looking into either a recumbent exercise bike or an elliptical for bad weather days. I didn't want to buy one until the basement remodel was completed, but that's now on the fall agenda. So we'll see how the timing of all that goes.

So summer flew by and I took no vacation at all except for a day here and there just to use up vacation days rather than lose them. The yard is beautiful with the occasional help from Alberto's crew. I've had a contented and uneventful few months. And yet, the metamorphosis that started last winter has continued with an unexpected new hobby.

In August, my friend Celia asked me to join her and her sister, Pat, in a private watercolor class with a teacher they had met at Red Butte Gardens. It sounded like fun, but I was unprepared for how much I would love it and become addicted to it. We've had five lessons now with one remaining. I will be sad for the classes to end, but my new adventure in creativity has just begun.

Our class is at Diva's--a charming coffee shop famous for its cupcakes but where you can also get a delicious sandwich or soup and a glass of wine. And we usually do since the shop charges nothing to use its space. Located in a former green house, it has beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces. We utilize the "library" space with its large table. In class we work on specific projects, and we all practice at home on our own subjects. So, in order of completion, here are my class projects and some of my practice efforts. I offer no apologies for the flaws - I'm still learning:

Class Week 1: Op Art coffee cup and cupcake

Practice: Himalayan poppies.

Practice, my cup of brushes.

Class Week 2-3; Bird on a wire (birds are hard!)

Practice: Prothonotary Warbler - I loved this one!

Class week 2-3-4, Tuscan Landscape

Practice: Lavender fields and Abbey of Senanque, Provence

Practice: Hummingbird

Class weeks 4, 5, 6: Leaves

Final class week 6: Western Landscape (impressionist)

And at the top of this post, my favorite practice yet, my Thatched Cottage which I painted yesterday on my day off instead of cleaning the basement -- no regrets.

August

2011-08-13T05:46:00.000-06:00

Halfway through August - where is the summer going? The summer has been so much about children and grandchildren and just keeping up with things, time passes imperceptibly and suddenly a whole season has gone by. In less than two weeks the kids are back in school. I haven't blogged because, frankly, I feel caught up in the stream of life and am not inspired to write about anything. But I feel slightly obliged to this page and want to check in now and then even if only to say that everything's going well, I'm content and enjoying life, and don't worry about me. I did start a watercolor class this summer and am enjoying that immensely. At some point I'll post a retrospective of our projects. But this is all for now--no photos of the yard (trust me it's a wonderful place to be), no sunsets (trust me they are, every one, inspiring), no photos of deer (yes, two new fawns this year). Suffice it to say "ditto" to so much I've posted in the past.

Life is good.

July

2011-07-02T07:52:00.000-06:00

I'm so remiss these days in posting, and here it is July. Not yet 5 a.m. but my typical awakening time. June was all filled up with things I needed to do for others while at the same time taking care of things in my own world. On June 29th I had my landscaper bring in his crew to finish the weeding I just couldn't catch up on and also take out the old dead tree at last and plant a beautiful new flowering pear. The yard is in bloom all around. A woman, whom I don't know, driving by yesterday, stopped and rolled down her window to tell me how beautiful it is. It happens a lot. People walking or driving by. I spend as much time as I can outdoors now. Perhaps I'll have a picture or two for this post if I get time.

But the heat is on. After a cool wet early summer, the temps are now in the 90's and we are predicted to hit 100 this weekend. Grateful for the AC.

I'm back to working from home most days, going to the office only on meeting days once every two weeks. The new writer at work is becoming better at working independently. We are in constant connection throughout the day by instant message and also by phone when the required communication exceeds our ability to type in terse statements. It seems to be working out okay and the work is getting done. There were big shakeups and austerity measures announced at work last month. Things are changing. I'm sorry to say I'm in my I'll-be-retiring-soon-anyway mode full-fledged now and don't invest a lot of emotion either way into the goings on at work.

My extra-curricular activities in June knocked me off my fitness schedule. But the habits I'd established in the previous months apparently carried me through. I didn't log calories faithfully, but I had a consciousness of my eating that served me well. I didn't walk 300 minutes a week, but working in the yard, helping my kids move, tending grandchildren (especially that!), and lots of other running around did serve to burn calories. I lost a little weight and was delighted not to have gained. Strength and energy are increasing all the time. I feel younger, stronger, more energetic than I have in years.

But I'm back on track doing a five-week sprint. I love walking and had really missed that particular activity. I walk after 8 p.m. in downtown Bountiful, if you can call it downtown (nine short blocks of tiny local shops, banks, restaurants, surrounded by well-maintained old neighborhoods). The sun is low enough and there are enough trees and buildings that it makes for a shady though pleasantly warm walk. It truly is small town U.S.A. there. People strolling, walking dogs, bicycling, old people sitting on their porches, kids playing frisbee on the big lawn in the center of town. Some days there are events going on like the sidewalk chalk festival or the classic car parade. There's an ambiance reminiscent of my childhood in the 50's. I think I get a mental boost as well as a physical one from my walks there. No wonder I've missed it.

But here we are well into the summer again. How time flies. It's a three-day holiday weekend, and people will be in and around the house for food and music and fun. Neighborhood fireworks are all around every evening now as the state has legalized the sale of more aerial types. Crossing fingers no fires are started. I feel in harmony with my world just now and am enjoying it all.

And maybe that's why I'm not blogging as much. I'm busy living life right now. But life is simple and there is little drama and little worthy of writing about. My family needs me and I'm happy to be there for them. I'm gearing up for one last major remodeling project in the house -- the basement and garage. Just in the imagining stage at the moment.

I'm afraid a contented life makes for boring blogging. But there it is, a few words for July. Hopefully, a few photos when it gets light.

Thoughts on Weeding

2011-06-18T10:29:00.002-06:00

Why is it, I wonder,

do the deer,
who have stripped the sumac
of its leaves
again,

Or the gophers,
undermining flowers and lawn,
making hills
where there were none.

Or the snails
leaving sticky trails
As they eat my lovely flowers
to death,

Or the new bug
that is
slowly
killing
my hostas,

Never seem to harm
the weeds.

Catching Up

2011-06-01T17:58:00.001-06:00

I'm lucky. I've had no flooding at my house. I wouldn't have believed it, but homes on the hillside here are getting water in basements. The water table is so high, it's just seeping in. With the wettest and coolest spring on record in our state, and snowpack over 300 percent of normal in some areas, flooding is inevitable as temperatures rise. Many who live near rivers and particularly where rivers drain into lakes are already suffering damage which so far is in the millions of dollars.

The rainy weather has kept me indoors a lot of the spring and the weeds have been taking advantage of my absence. I've bought plants and then kept them covered on the patio lest the cold weather destroy them. Suddenly, today we are 80 degrees. My patio pots, for the most part, did okay. I lost a few vinca plants -- easily replaced. Today I'm finally getting plants in the ground that have waited a couple of weeks.

We are all behind this year because of this weather. Gardeners have waited to put out tender tomatoes and peppers. Some farmers have been unable to get spring crops in. Some fields now underwater will not produce anything this year.

Those who live near rivers can sometimes expect high water. Those of us who live on hillsides are more surprised when it happens here. I am thankful for my luck so far, but will wait and see how the rest of this spring unfolds. This is a story being repeated all over our country.

And the question so many are asking: Is this year of extreme weather everywhere just a fluke? Or is this the outcome of climate change we've been warned of?

Planting flowers, and birds, birds, birds

2011-05-29T12:22:00.001-06:00

We've had so few good warm and not-rainy days this spring, I feel I'm behind on everything. I had scheduled Alberto to mow the lawn every week in May, but due to weather, it turned out to be just twice. Wednesday was sunny and warm, and I took the day off work to go nursery hopping with best friend Celia. We found some lovely things! Today I spent a good part of the day planting in both pots and in the ground and doing weeding which I've been working on for a couple of weeks.

The yard is green and lush and everything is growing like crazy (including the weeds). Most wonderful of all, the yard has become something of a bird sanctuary of late with an incredible variety of birds. Some of the photos below are from earlier years, but all are birds visiting recently. The most thrilling would have to be the lazuli bunting. The most charming and heart-winning are the chickadees who are nesting for the second year in a row in my decorative blue birdhouse.

Buntings: Just a few at first, and now a whole flock of them. They are small but feisty. Females are a yellowish-brown.

Black-Headed Grosbeak: Adult male in the first pic. The second is either female or young male, but I think young male by the strong markings.

Scrub Jay (a couple years ago)

Goldfinches (April)

House Finch and Goldfinch (April)

Flicker (Feb)

Chickadee defending his territory.

There are also the doves and quail which I've failed to photograph. And of course, robins, And the occasional hawk. Whom have I missed?

Alarming

2011-05-21T05:26:00.000-06:00

Awoke at 3 a.m. to a loud humming sound and wondered why the furnace was so loud and wouldn't shut off. Opened my eyes and saw bright flashing red and blue lights through the bedroom window. And then smelled smoke. I looked out to see the hum was the idling engines of about five fire engines and numerous other emergency vehicles in the street behind my house. In my grogginess I thought it might be my own house but as I quickly dressed, realized it had to be a next door neighbor. It was. I stood outside long enough to see that they had brought out all the people, though I didn't see the pets. Smoke was pouring from the roof but no visible flames from here.

Very alarming.

I could see no way to be of help without getting in the way, so I went inside. No more sleep. I would just sit and watch and wait. Now about two hours later, a few of the vehicles are starting to put equipment away and leave.

It was Frost's house -- Gene and Donna's. Well, that was until Gene died and Donna moved away. Years ago. Friends of ours -- of Doug before he died, and mine. And after several subsequent owners, the present ones who are a young couple. The young guy of the loud stereo, loud parties, loud motorcycle, and on one occasion, brandishing guns in the front yard, all which disturbs my peace. The young woman who just moved in with him a few months ago. I saw they both were safely out of the house. But I don't see their dogs. A house fire is something you wouldn't wish on even someone like this who has been most unneighborly to the rest of us on the street. It's a terrible, frightening thing.

I looked at the house now with dark windows, some standing open. A tall ladder to one. A really pretty house. Gene and Donna had made it so lovely. It triggers so many memories of when the kids were small and growing up. And now to see it suffer this tragedy.

You think of the fragility of life. Of the passage of time. Where we have come to. How quickly things can change. The lessons of life. I wonder how to start my day, doing my cleaning, buying the flowers for my patio pots, tending the grandchildren, when such an event has shattered lives so nearby.

Calories Do Count

2011-04-30T08:12:00.001-06:00

Having finished a six-week challenge with an online friend, I'm embarking on a 10-week personal challenge much like the one just finished. I have proven I can be successful in adhering to a program over a shorter period of time, and now want to see if I can have the same discipline for an extended period.

A couple of items reinforced my approach this week. I caught a bit of Oprah one day as she presented 50 or so women who had been on a trainer's program in which they did 300 minutes of exercise per week and limited calories to 1700 per day. They also had a skin care routine and sleep advice in their simple program, much like my own except that my calorie intake has been even more limited than that. Individuals lost between 6 and 27 pounds over a period of 60 days. Much depended on their adherence to the program.

On the same day I saw a news item about a man (a college professor perhaps, I'm not positive) who wanted to prove that you could lose weight regardless of what you ate as long as you paid attention to the total calories consumed. To prove his point he lost weight while eating Twinkies and other junk food.

Well yes, I completely agree a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, and to lose weight you just need to burn more calories than you consume. During my program I had at various times spaghetti and meatballs, mac n cheese, creme brulee. But not every day. And always compensated for with other calories during the day. But I have found that I'm much better off to get my calories from foods that provide the most possible nutrition and also satisfy my hunger over longer periods of time. For this reason I include breads and pastas in my daily calories and lots of veggies. I've eliminated butter and nearly all added fats and have greatly reduced the sodium I consume simply because I eat so little pre-prepared food. I do take a vitamin/mineral supplement too as I'm not confident I'm getting everything my body needs. The bottom line is that I've found you can consume a pretty low number of calories and not feel hungry depending on what you choose to eat.

Yesterday at work a co-worker brought in a big plate of homemade cupcakes for our meeting. I estimated in my head the calories and decided I could have a cupcake or lunch but not both. I opted for lunch.

These are decisions I make every day. I don't have chips, cookies, ice cream in the house unless grandchildren are coming. If I want a sweet snack like chocolate, I buy a single portion, to allow no leftovers to tempt me later.

And I don't cheat. If I cheat, the person I sabotage is myself.

I have such a sense of my life changing right now with so many transitions taking place, and I feel this is so right to get myself as physically healthy and fit as possible for last decades of my life. That has been motivation enough to keep me on track and committed.

I appreciate the many words of encouragement from those who check in here from time to time. If you are facing similar issues in your life, I urge you to try a simple program like this. It is so rewarding when you see the results. If you do, would you let me know? I'd be very interested.

Peeling off more layers

2011-04-17T18:17:00.001-06:00

Today's celebration is for significant weight loss. I've been on a very strict regimen and it's paying off. Yes, I've lost weight, a good amount. But I've also seen real progress in how my clothes fit. I have two sizes of clothes in my closet and sadly I'm wearing the larger of the two. But until I started this program, that size was becoming extremely tight and I was in danger of needing yet another size up. I couldn't let that happen. But after just four weeks of effort, pants that used to pinch at the waist with serious muffin top now sit comfortably and loose at the waist, and thighs no longer look like sausages in them. I tried on the next size down and zipped it up, but still too snug--but we'll get there. It's nice to see progress not only on the scales but how clothing fits and how I feel. A big plus is having less pain walking up and down stairs.

The program I follow is self-prescribed and simple:

I walk 3+ miles per day, 5 days a week (about an hour).
I limit calories to under 1500 (more like 1200, in fact)
I do something nice for myself every day (this is harder than you might think)
I log (yes or no) if I engage in any emotional eating

I log everything on a shared spreadsheet where my friend and I exchange comments and encouragement for each other.

Only a few times has the walking been difficult because of weather. But I walk on a flat area that has helped me to build up my stamina and improve my pace. I use RunKeeper.com and GPS on my phone to track my walks and prompt me at each half mile I achieve. Today I walked 4.4 miles. When I walk in the morning, my energy is up and I can last longer. At the end of this program I plan to start walking more on the hills, improving my pace, and varying my exercise with bike riding as weather permits. Minimum an hour a day, whatever the activity.

Limiting calories would be hard except that I am very careful about what I choose to eat right now. You can eat a lot of vegetables with a very low calorie count. I add no butter and I limit even olive oil which has 120 calories per tablespoon. No food is "illegal" but if I want to eat out, I compensate at other meals. Usually I'll eat half and take the rest home for another meal. At home sandwiches are one slice of bread instead of two. I use light soy milk on dry cereal instead of regular milk. Many dinners are nothing but veggies. I bought a little notebook that is just for tracking food and calories--each day starts on a new page. I've had only a couple of days where I exceeded my goal, only as a result of social eating. But I have no guilt for that as I also need to be with friends and sometimes that involves food. But one thing is for sure: if I'm going to consume more calories, they'd darn well better be extra delicious! The key to success is planning ahead what I will eat and having low calorie snacks on hand for when I really feel the need.

I've wanted to track the emotional eating issue to see if my state of mind affects how I eat. I think I've been so successful at keeping a positive viewpoint, that I have rarely had episodes I would call emotional eating. And even then, I'll just have a fruit or graham cracker and stay within allowed calories. But as they say, nothing succeeds like success. The more I lose, the more motivated I am to stick with it.

Our challenge ends in two more weeks, but I am going to continue my program for longer and continue tracking. Even though I've lost quite a bit, I still have a long ways to go to reach my ideal weight. Incidentally, weight goals are not in my program. I do weigh, but I don't have a target for each week. I know if I follow the plan, the pounds will come off, and they do.

Continuing to emerge.

February

2011-02-20T08:50:00.001-07:00

Cruel February

Oh, cruel February!

You, with your thaws

And your rains,

And small green shoots under the Jupiter's Beard.

You, teasing me with your songbirds

And flocks of swans winging northward

And your blue skies,

And your false hope.

I see you outside my window now

Fierce, unrelenting, and white.

My coffee cup is empty

And soon I must get out my snow shovel
Again.

Becky Stauffer

February 20, 2011

UPDATE: As if right on cue, an entire flock of robins arrives today.

Dammit! Slipped Again!

2011-02-18T03:48:00.000-07:00

Exactly three years ago this month I fell and injured my ankle. It was supposed to take two to six weeks to heal, but for months afterward there was lingering pain in that leg. After that I resolved to always watch my step, especially on stairs where women do most of their falling. But it only takes one lapse. Yesterday I was on my lunch break and eager to get a few things done around the house. I had finally finished the huge shredding project of all the ex's old papers and was carrying two big bags of shredded paper and a cardboard box out to the recycling bin. Two small flights of stairs, I just tossed the box and then followed it down carrying the bags, unable to see the stairs and thinking about other things when *crash* my foot slipped off the last step and down I went. I felt the ankle pain immediately and just hoped it wasn't broken.

I appears I've re-injured it in the same place. I still had the ankle brace from the last episode, so iced the injury, immobilized it, and kept it elevated as much as possible. The swelling is not as bad as the previous injury--probably because I got the ice and compression on it sooner this time.

Well, I'm hobbling. It's not broken. But it hurts and I'm mad at myself for forgetting my own advice.

A Toast to a Day of Love

2011-02-14T12:10:00.027-07:00

There are so many takes on this day. Some people are celebrating the fact they are a couple. Some expecting gifts and tokens. Some expecting a wild night of passion. Some cynical over past disappointments. Some scoffing that it’s all nothing but silly romance.

But not me—my take is different. For me this is a day to stop and appreciate love in all its forms that has graced my life. To acknowledge the relationships, even the transitory ones, that I truly believed at the time to be deep and meaningful, and that had a lasting effect on my life.

When we get old, we’re supposed to get wise. And since I’ve reached an age where people are sometimes referred to in news stories as “elderly” , I think I will use that excuse to offer a few tidbits that I’ve learned in my lifetime.

When in a relationship, don’t wait for gifts. Why set yourself up for disappointment? I buy fresh flowers for myself because I enjoy them. If your loved one doesn’t think of flowers, it’s not because they love you less—it’s more likely because they don’t read minds.

If you’re paying attention, you’ll see plenty of signals that confirm that special bond: a wordless shared look that you both clearly understand; an unsolicited compliment like “Dinner was great, babe;” a lingering moment as he passes and notices some nice fragrance about you; a thoughtful act like warming up the car for you on a cold morning; or getting himself a drink in the evening and bringing you one, too.

Pay attention. It’s the little things that add meaning to a relationship—that confirm the love. It’s noticing those things that makes you value the relationship more.

Relationships are all temporary. They end for all kinds of reasons. If our happiness is based solely on being in a good relationship, at some point in life we will be very unhappy. It’s good to remember the good things that brought you together to begin with. It’s good to remember good things between you when you were together. It’s good to forgive and forget the things that brought the relationship to an end. If the end was the death of a loved one, it’s good to find a point where you can stop crying and be happy about the good things you shared.

All things will end. But life is wasted only if we fail to appreciate the moment we are in now and also the things we have had in the past.

Strive to be at peace with all the loves that have come and gone in your life and when you reach old age, whether you are with a partner or you are alone, you can say, “I regret nothing.” Won't you join me in a toast to that sentiment today?
~~~

I regret nothing

2011-02-13T20:09:00.000-07:00

There are places I remember
All my life,
Though some have changed.
Some forever, not for better,
Some have gone
And some remain.
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living,
In my life I loved them all.
(Lennon-McCartney)

Happy day of Love. <3

Worth Waiting For

2011-02-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

When the air clears and warms up a little, February can be quite beautiful. This sunset lasted a long time tonight and I just sat and watched and finally decided I needed to take its picture.

Inversion again

2011-01-30T11:12:00.003-07:00

Yet again, the inversion has settled in making for dismal daytime weather and bad air for those who like to breathe. Before the sun came up this morning, I could not even see across the street. Now visibility is slightly better, but there is no view of mountains or valley. We are promised a snowstorm tonight, significant enough to blow away the stagnation. I abandoned my plans to look for bald eagles this weekend.

Winter is not yet over. The snow has been melting and temps have been in the high 30's and even 40's of late, which feels good after long stretches below freezing. But the cold temps are also predicted to return by mid-week. It's a reminder that winter extends into March here, and even after that continues to make appearances.

Still, as January draws to a close, I resist the temptation to simply appreciate surviving it. There has been good progress indoors on my projects. Good things are happening at work. And I can even see beauty in the fog through my windows (as long as I don't try to breathe it). Life is too short to simply write off a month out of every year. It behooves us to make the time we have worthwhile. As for me, I'm sticking to the plan.

Cocooning

2011-01-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

The air outside is unbreathable. We are urged to drive less. Burning in fireplaces and wood stoves is forbidden. Those with respiratory conditions are advised to stay indoors / not exercise. It's a "red air day" - common for January in northern Utah. Often the worst air in the U.S. at the time.

The mountains in northern Utah form something of a bowl around the Wasatch Front communities. Wintertime air stagnation causes fog from the lake and pollutants from vehicles, planes, and industry to become trapped at low elevations where most of us live, while the air higher in the mountains is clear and beautiful. We look forward to storms that blow through and clear out the gunk from our valleys. In between times, weather forecasters tell us whether it's a green, yellow, or red air quality day, and we adapt accordingly.

I've decided that since I feel somewhat confined in my home due to the bad air, I'm going to make the most of it. This is a good opportunity to focus internally -- on both myself and my home. I am lucky to work from home most of the time, so even that plays into my plan. I am wrapping myself up, so to speak, inside my home, giving me a chance for some personal introspection, renewal, and preparation before setting off on new paths and pursuits in the coming months and year.

I will live inside a chrysalis of my own making and begin to do the work that later will bring about subtle or possibly even startling changes. For several decades I defined myself as part of a couple. Now I am finding out who the individual is that I am. Wrapped up and somewhat secluded from the outside, I hope to grow further into a person who is all me -- carrying all of the influences of the past not as baggage, but as formative experience and wisdom -- and transforming myself to step into the next phase of my development.

In a few weeks, we'll probably have our typical return to winter after this bit of thaw we are enjoying. There will yet be snow and freezing, though the temperatures will begin to rise gradually. If you're a gardener, you know the rule of thumb in Utah is not to plant until after Mother's Day when we can usually count on no more temperatures below the freezing mark. Winter lasts a long time here.

Oh, but I won't wait for Mother's Day to emerge from my cocoon. I'll begin unwrapping the layers gradually as spring approaches. As I feel ready. I will emerge from this period of transition, conscious of everything around me and my juxtaposition to those things. I have an unexpected and profound feeling of freedom and renewal this year. I'm eager to plunge into a warmer, sunnier world.

I don't know entirely what to expect when the new me emerges from my secluded period. For now I'm focusing on the internal -- discovering, growing, preparing. When I do emerge, I'll breathe deeply of the good clear air, I'll stretch out my limbs in celebration of my freedom, and I'll venture into the beautiful and welcoming spring.

And then, we shall see . . .

Not going to sweat the small stuff

2011-01-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

My daughter and I were talking the other day about how easy it is to get carried away with worrying about things big and small and what a waste it often is when you look back at the problem. Almost all the time, the issue gets resolved and you move on and the worrying did nothing but take off precious minutes of your life.

As trite as it sounds, I think my one real resolution this year is to not sweat the small stuff. And as my daughter points out (more triteness coming), it really is almost all small stuff.

I had a great boss once (then a lawyer, now a judge), who really embodied this practice. When something would go wrong, he'd let off with a string of epithets that would wither a sensitive soul. And then he was done with agonizing and was on to the practical problem-solving.

I have tried to adopt some of this approach in my own life - to get past any worry, frustration, anger, and other negative emotions that tend more to debilitate than to help any situation. I've been relatively successful with getting on with the problem-solving phase quickly, and I am good at letting go of anger to the point that I honestly rarely even feel anger anymore. But it has been hard to let go of the worrying.

This is something I really want to focus on this year. And as a born worrier, this will be a real challenge.

Inventory

2010-12-29T06:33:00.004-07:00

The year comes to an end, and that always marks a time of new beginning for us as well as review of events of the past year. It has been a year of minimal blogging for me. I've had little interest in opining on politics or current events, and have been more focused inward in my life.

January brought the completion of my kitchen remodel which started the year off right. It has been a year of parties and entertaining and sheer enjoyment as a result.

February my daughter surprised us all with a secret marriage. It was a wonderful thing as her husband, my son-in-law, is such a fine person and they are both so suited to each other. I have been most happy with this event.

The wedding prompted plans for a party in June, which led to my locating a landscaper. Improving my outside areas became the theme of spring, summer and fall. I've posted many pictures of the process and, again, could not be more happy about the outcomes. For the first time in the 31 years I've lived here, the entire yard is finished and beautiful - and just the way I want it.

Mid-summer brought the wonderful event of the Paul McCartney concert, attended by my sisters and me and several of my dearest friends. It was thrilling and unforgettable.

The first part of the year found me still weepy about the death of my ex-husband. I began to feel weary of teariness and determined to try to bring about a change. I set a deadline on the anniversary of his death in July, promising myself no more tears and no regrets. It became my theme for the rest of the year. I found simply making that decision and setting a deadline and observing it worked for me. And though the memories still arise, I no longer find myself on the verge of tears when they do.

My emotional strength was further challenged when J and I said goodbye in May as he moved to Minnesota. We had been together for two and a half years - I was only separated but not divorced when we met. He was a touchstone for me through the separation, the legal hassles, the many ensuing events. He was an escape when I needed it. He was someone intelligent and informed to talk with, someone witty to laugh with, someone warm and kind to be with. Neither of us anticipated how hard it would be to say goodbye. Even now we stay in touch by phone and email, and I feel I have a friend for life. I extended my no-tears-no-regrets theme to J, and we both agreed that was the way it had to be. The distance between us would be impossible to overcome and we both needed to find new companions. We haven't yet, but we will. But long phone conversations, talking and laughing, continue to help bridge that gap.

In the last half of the year I began thinking seriously about the time when I would retire from work. After a talk with my boss, it was decided it was time to bring on another writer for our staff. We have begun the interviewing process and my hope is to find someone who will fully replace me and I can leave when I'm ready. That will be in about two years.

I turned 63 this week. It feels absolutely no different from 62. However, physically I've failed to take care of myself this year and have gained back some of the weight I lost. After the loss of my ex-husband, I stopped walking daily and stopped watching what I ate. The pounds crept back almost imperceptibly. I did take up bicycling, but that wasn't a daily activity and was not enough. I know I have to return to my walking routine. When J left, I did worse for awhile, but turned things around in November. I am back on the right track now, heading in the right direction and hope to continue that into the new year.

I do have some goals for the new year. Continuing to get into better shape. More improvements around the house. More music - both piano and guitar, and perhaps lessons. More bicycling. Keep up the landscaping. More birdwatching and photography. In other words, just keeping on keeping on.

In summing it all up, the year definitely ends in the positive column for me. I feel happy, contented, and strong. I know there will be tough things to deal with in the new year. But that's life. I'm feeling prepared for what is to come next.

And once again, the tree is up, we can have a little Christmas

2010-12-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't know if I had time to get it up this year, but so glad I did. No sooner was I finished, than the grandsons showed up and had to inspect every little item hanging on the boughs. It was worth the work just to hear their delightful comments.

Eagles: Please Come Home for Christmas

2010-12-03T23:43:00.002-07:00

I promise to stop missing my special friend any day now.

Thanksgiving and more November Snow 2010

2010-11-26T22:19:00.002-07:00

From the blizzard that fizzled a few days earlier, I got a few interesting pics as well as Thanksgiving day. We're missing Eric, who's in Kansas City, and Jenn and Zach who spent Thanksgiving in Idaho this year.

Here are progressive shots of the storm starting with the approaching front, and ending with blue skies the following day with one interesting shot of lake effect gathering moisture from the warmer lake waters.

And Thanksgiving.

First Snow - November 2010

2010-11-21T07:22:00.004-07:00

It came down hard for awhile and made the roads pretty slick. I think we got 6 to 8 inches by this morning. I'll go out and shovel at daylight and then I'll know better. There are supposed to be three or four waves of this, with the second coming later today, another on Monday and one more on Tuesday. Better to keep up on the shoveling than to let it pile up. It's beautiful looking at it from the windows.

These shots are from last evening. I'll add more once we have some good daylight here.

Finished first round of shoveling around 8:30 a.m. Had help from a neighbor boy or I'd still be out there. I'm guessing we had 10 to 12 inches in all. Fog has rolled in now and maybe the next wave is starting. Not bad work for an old lady, I think. Now for something warm to drink.

Ending with a spot of sunlight on pristine, white Antelope Island.

Going digital

2010-11-19T06:15:00.001-07:00

I started a project to convert all the old family slides to digital photos. It's just the start of a winter-long project to reduce various things I use to digital form.

The slides will be a slow project as I will pick and choose which ones to keep and which ones to skip. Those slides are from the days when you had to get the film developed and for whatever reason, we kept every single shot -- good or bad. But I'll be more selective. I find I need to do a little color correction, too, due to the age of the photos. The little converter I bought is cheap and doesn't do a very good job with any shots that contain a lot of white. I'll set those aside and find another method of converting them -- may have a photo shop do them for me. Once done, I can just store the slides themselves until I feel ready to throw them out, and I can get rid of all those reels that hold them now.

Another project is to convert CDs and vinyl to MP3 which will allow me to build play lists and to play through an iPod dock station, making my music more accessible and convenient. Putting CDs in and out of a multi-disk player is slow. Isn't that funny to think of that as slow? I bought a USB turntable that will allow me to move some of my favorite old vinyl to MP3 as well.

Then there's that huge collection of CD's I hauled over from the ex's house after he died. Most of them I don't want, but there's enough value in all of that to make it worthwhile to catalog and sell on eBay or some other way. So that I will do as well.

Perfect jobs for cold winter nights when we just want to stay in. The first really big winter storm is predicted for this weekend. I'll get photos I'm sure. Happily, I had Alberto and the guys here this week to clean up all the leaves. As usual, they left my yard looking like a million bucks, cut down all the dead plants, raked the mulch, even cleaned the rain gutters and the street gutters. All I need to do is cover the patio furniture now.

I feel prepared for winter this year. Tonight I'll do all the shopping for Thanksgiving week in case I find myself really snowbound over the weekend. And then I can sit in my cozy house and work on my projects and watch movies to my heart's content.

J. Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor Op. 79, No.2

2010-11-15T05:11:00.001-07:00

I'm just starting to learn this piece. It's moderately difficult but especially if played up to speed. These old fingers may never be able to accomplish that, but I so love the depth of tones this produces from my piano. It's a rare piece that uses the entire keyboard down to the very lowest A. I find it inspiring to think of other hands that have played these very same notes over about 150 years, including the original composer -- that my own fingers walk in those exact same paths Reading music is perhaps like learning a foreign language -- another language in which to express yourself. Not unlike an actor reciting lines of Shakespeare, the notes connecting the page to the keyboard also connect you to so many others down through the years. It's a rather thrilling thought.

Rainy Day

2010-11-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

It's overcast and damp today. I'll get the snow tires put on the car and run a few errands. Then maybe a drive to the bird refuge to see some swans. It's a birthday today. We always remember the birthdays even when other things begin to fade.

Chopin

2010-11-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

I am so uninclined to blog these days. Took down many of my RSB posts. But will share this lovely video this beautiful autumn morning.

Only You

2010-10-13T22:01:00.002-06:00

Fall Cleanup - A beautiful end to summer

2010-09-15T17:15:00.000-06:00

I've had the landscapers here for the past two days doing some cleanup and other work. The yard is so pretty, I have to share many, many pictures with you this time. Well, this is also because I want to have a record of how things looked right now compared to next spring.

The biggest changes I had them do was to raise the base of the pine trees to let in more light, and completely redo all the parking strips. But they also did weeding, trimming, planting, and other things too. Well, you'll see -- here are the photos. Click any photo to see larger.

Front yard from across the street.

Front, east side, five pine trees and lots of low-water plantings.

More front east side

New steps and stepping stone pathway to the backyard. Pine boughs no longer touch the ground.

Waiting for this patch of asters to bloom, the last of the season.

Flower bed in front.

Rock wall at the very front, with a new metal barrier to keep the grass out and new plantings of creeping phlox in three colors.

The lowest point of the yard, front corner garden, zinnias are wrapping up the season.

Two new sumac trees planted on the west side. Will grow to about 10 feet and block the view of my neighbor's yard without blocking my view of the valley.

Looking down at the new sumacs from my deck. A little tile pathway and cement block stairway bring you here.

My deck and view of the valley from my back patio.

My patio, my favorite place to be any time of the day.

Backyard looking east from the patio.

My patio garden. Lots of hidden goodies tucked in here. The surprise performers are the parsley plants.

A very tame blue jay friend is curious about all this picture-taking and wants some of the action.

From the patio, the bare spot beside the stairs to the upper level now has some new plantings of ivy which will hopefully fill in. The ivy climbing my neighbor's block wall volunteered from my ivy patch, so I think it will do well here.

The upper patio area. I still haven't decided anything to do here, but may plant either honeysuckle or wisteria to climb along this back wall. This is not the very back of my yard, it goes up further to a sidewalk and street.

Looking down from the upper level at my thyme and tile checkerboard backyard. The thyme is spreading over the tiles and by spring I will have to decide whether to trim it or take out the tiles and go for the full thyme lawn I originally intended. I have sort of become attached to the checkerboard look.

From the upper level looking toward the east corner, the myrtle patch has been cut down to just a few inches. It will grow back lush and full in the spring.

Also from the upper level you can see three of the five pines that have had lower branches removed opening up light and space in the garden. More room for plantings or simply open space.

The three pines from the main level. In the foreground is a wonderful patch of hyssop, one of my favorite plants for its varieties, fragrances, and appeal to hummingbirds. My former boyfriend used to say I could work the word "hyssop" into any conversation. And yes, I have decided to keep that dead tree for now. I just like it.

Another lovely hyssop in the foreground here. Some nurseries also call it agastache.

The corner garden at the intersection of two streets, looking west toward the back of the house and the patio.

And finally, possibly the biggest part of the job in terms of time and expense, the completely redone parking strips. All rocks and weeds were removed, new extra-heavy duty liner put down, and rocks were arranged beautifully. With streets on three sides of my yard, it amounted to a big job. Here is strip 1.

Strip 2 runs down the east side of the lot. I have a major problem with water running into this strip from the upper street (rather than staying in the gutter, it turns in and runs down my sidewalk). The workers found about two inches of mud deposited on top the old plastic liner when they removed the rocks. The city and I will have a talk about this problem.

And the front. Doesn't it look lovely extending even on to my neighbor's yard as well? That's because he came over and talked to the landscapers and had them do some clean up in his front yard while they were here. He is getting a bid for a backyard cleanup as well. Won't that be wonderful!

So that's it. A tour of the entire yard. You might think there's nothing left for me to do, but you'd be wrong. Now I plan to continue transplanting various things that can tolerate it. But I'll probably save any further new plants until the spring.

And be true to yourself

2010-09-09T21:51:00.003-06:00

Sunrise, September 8, 2010

2010-09-08T07:16:00.001-06:00

Nothing I can add to improve on this. Click the photo to see larger.

My Labor Day Vacation

2010-09-06T07:38:00.001-06:00

I have a lot of vacation time - we call it PTO (personal time off) -- accrued at work. And since there's a limit to how much we can accrue, I decided to use some in conjunction with the Labor Day weekend and have six days off in a row.

The time off has been absolutely wonderful and has confirmed that I'll have no problem filling the retirement hours when those days come. There is so much I want to do.

This morning I've been trying to think specifically what I've done each day. I know I had a couple of nice bike rides; one on the Legacy Parkway bike trail and one on the Jordan River Parkway trail. Have visited with friends and made a new friend. Have eaten out a few times. Have watched movies both at home and out. Have puttered around the house and yard. Got a nice jump on the fall with some weeding, transplanting, and new plantings. Did a pretty major pruning of a pine tree yesterday which convinced me to hire the landscapers to do the rest of the trees. And I have been just plain lazy, too. Yesterday morning, the three little fawns and a couple of does made an appearance. I hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks, so I just sat very still on my front porch for about an hour - yes an hour - while they wandered from house to house nibbling on trees, plants, grass.

Today is the last day of my vacation, and I'm going birding up north - Salt Creek, Bear River, maybe Antelope Island on the way back, or at least Farmington Bay, just to see what birds are migrating. I spotted a wonderful Lazuli bunting in my yard a couple of days ago. I used to see them often, but that was years ago and I don't remember the last time they visited. I'm eager to get out and see some birds.

And that's that. Six days have flown by, and as vacations go, very restful and satisfying. I feel refreshed, renewed, energized and ready to get back to work. Here are pictures of my Labor day yard.

It's not easy doing a life

2010-08-24T21:15:00.001-06:00

When you judge other people remember one overriding axiom: 'Everybody is having a hard time'. Everyone is insecure. Everyone is hassled. Everyone is tired - we all need more sleep. Everyone wishes he had more courage, more money and better social skills. Everyone wants more glamour in his life, and we all desperately need more laughter. Few can figure out how they ended up living the life they lead. Don't be misled by flippant talk; it's a battle for everyone... Give people a break. It's not easy doing a life. - Joshua Halberstam

I'm looking at my photo on this blog. Took it just two years ago in October, Much has happened. I have aged - I'm not the same person at all. And I ran across this quote. I couldn't agree more. It's not easy doing a life.

In search of self

2010-08-15T12:30:00.001-06:00

Please pardon this entirely personal and self-involved post. My previous post has triggered a flurry of introspection and personal analysis. It's not new, it's a process that has been going on for several years since becoming single and living entirely alone for the first time in my life. But some aspects of a personality analysis (and comparisons to that of my most recent boyfriend) has brought me to an amazing conclusion: I don't want to be alone. Some people are very happy to be alone with little social interaction, but I am not one of them.

The old BF, now in Minnesota, and I had a long chat on the phone last night about that and many other things. We are both certainly in transitional places in our lives - and it's a strange place to be in your 60's. He is one of those people who requires very little social interaction. He values solitude and spends a great deal of time simply pondering. As a result, he comes up with some of the most profound and astute observations.

I admire this quality in him so much, I have tried to incorporate more solitude and contemplation in my own life. You'd think that would be easy since I live alone and I work at home nearly all the time. My children are in and out, but they have busy lives and don't spend a lot of time here. My closest friends have had a summer of heavy responsibilities and we have spent less time together than we are accustomed to. And of course, J moved away in May and I have not sought out a new relationship. So I have achieved aloneness in a big way.

But though I'm alone, I've been less successful than I'd like to admit at embracing solitude and contemplation. I do spend time sitting on my patio just soaking up the beauty there. But I'm afraid I get distracted by the hummingbirds and the pots needing water and some weeds I notice. I'm not spending any time pondering the great questions of our time. I'll never make a good philosopher as I'm too easily distracted for that.

But after taking that little quiz yesterday and beginning to think about my strengths, I understand that even though I admire a certain quality in another, it is not a failure on my part if I am unable to emulate that in my own life. And the reverse is true as well.

Today my thoughts have been more about who I am now; what motivates me, what pleases me, and how do I view myself. And why the hell haven't I figured that all out before now?!

Well, never mind. Now I know this is a life-long process. We keep changing and we don't even realize it, and it becomes necessary every now and then to stop and figure whom we have become.

I've come up with a few things.

Things make me smile unconsciously all the time - I'm paying more attention to what those things are.
I love quiet.
I love people - all kinds of people. I am slow to make friends, but find it easy to be friendly. It's good for me to be around people.
I am a worker. This has been a revelation to me. As a child my mother always told me I was lazy, and I guess I have always thought she was right. But when I look at what I accomplish daily, weekly, yearly, I am even astonished myself.
I love to be creative.
Physically I view myself as a younger more slender person and I'm sometimes dismayed to look in the mirror.

Those are the main ones. I'm not sure what I will do with this insight, but I will hopefully use my alone time to figure it out. But you'll have to excuse me now as I just noticed the hummingbird feeders need filling.

Am I Blue?

2010-08-13T20:16:00.005-06:00

Today, just for fun, my group at work took the Color Code personality test. Maybe you've done it before yourself. I read the Taylor Hartman book many years ago with my book club. Since that book came out, the personality colors have become an understood part of our lexicon. It seemed important and even a matter of pride to know what color group you were in. Hartman's premise was that the better you understood your own motivations and those of your associates, the better relationships you could develop.

Our trainer today, certified in color test administration, did a fine job explaining the four personalities and how they interact with others. Then our scores were handed to us. I think something was wrong with mine. When I took the test years ago, I was a strong red with a secondary blue, some white, and practically no yellow. How sad, as yellow is the fun-loving one. I was a workaholic at the time. It was probably a fair evaluation.

But our trainer today said you are born with your personality and you don't really change your core color. So what happened to me? Today I was Blue 47%, my strongest color. Red 27%, Yellow 20%, and White 7%. Now how did I suddenly get so much yellow into my personality, and where did all that hot, opinionated, always-right Red go?

Well, of course, as fun as this might be, there are a few problems with the test. For one thing, you must answer questions by evaluating yourself. And we are possibly the worst judge. For example, which of the following are you? Power-oriented, Perfectionist, Indecisive, Self-centered. Ask me, you get one thing. Ask my kids, my sisters, my friends, my co-workers, you might get something else entirely. I answered Perfectionist. Even when I was more red, I don't think I would have answered Power-oriented.

Another problem is, some of the questions don't offer a choice that applies to you. For example, are you Demanding, Unforgiving, Unmotivated, Vain? Since I don't think I'm the first three at all, but I care about how I look, I chose Vain, though I hardly think I really am. This may have moved me into the yellow category.

Of course, the more difficult problem with these types of tests, is that everyone compares results and then you get pigeon-holed. "Ah, that's the selfish Red in you!" We all become armchair psychologists.

The one value I did see in this session today was understanding the way different personality types interact, and how better to deal with certain personalities. Even if you don't think in terms of color, you sometimes have to deal with a bossy, aggressive person. Or a closed, contemplative person. Or someone who just won't take responsibility. There's no question we are all different and we shouldn't expect our associates to change and be like us, but rather we should learn to work with their personality types, while also improving on our own character traits.

But do we never change from childhood? I don't buy that for an instant. I have become more Yellow and I'm embracing the Yellow!

You can take a free Color Code test online and they will email your primary color with a pie chart showing how dominant that color is. But to get the full breakdown and analysis, you need to pay $40. I'd suggest you go check the book out of the library. I have that book somewhere . . .

Here's the web site. If you take the test, let me know your primary color. http://www.colorcode.com/personality_test/

And just for fun, some Hoagy Carmichael with Bogey and Bacall, "Am I Blue?"

Je ne veux pas travailler

2010-08-03T06:57:00.001-06:00

I don't want to work.

Is it terrible to be 62 and a half and want to retire from daily work? I'm tired after a freak and fierce thunderstorm blew through here overnight. So I'm logged in to start work, but I keep staring out the window and thinking today would be a good day to start my retirement.

Some days I think I couldn't fill up the day after working for so many years. But today I have a schedule in mind:

Start early with coffee and watch the sky get light.
Take my bike to the Legacy bike path and ride for two hours.
Have breakfast at home.
Putter around the house and yard cleaning, doing home improvement or art projects.
Have a light lunch around 2-ish.
Siesta for an hour.
Read, play piano,.
Shop for dinner.
Have people over, cook, eat, drink, and sit on the patio and watch the sun go down.
Play CDs or the piano until too tired to stay awake any longer.
Go to bed, sleep soundly, and then do it all again tomorrow with slight variations.

I think I could handle retirement.

(Sorry the video can't be embedded, but go to YouTube to watch - it's cute).

Greening up my world

2010-07-25T11:32:00.001-06:00

I was stunned when I saw my power bill yesterday -- in a good way. It has to be the lowest bill this house has ever had in a July, just $56. The KWH used this year was 17 per day compared to 27 last year, even though the average daily temperature was two degrees higher THIS year at 77.

After the new windows, roof, siding, furnace, and a/c over the past six years, my energy bills had already dropped significantly. More than one-third after the windows alone. I set the a/c at 78 when I'm home, and the heat at 68. I thought I'd maxed out my ability to reduce energy consumption and still live comfortably. But this summer I've made a concerted effort to utilize open windows and capture cool night air. Some days the a/c doesn't kick on until 4 p.m.

It's something we've forgotten how to do -- keep the house cool without a/c. I remember in the 50's I didn't know anyone who had air conditioning in the house. People used strategically-placed trees, awnings on windows, opening and closing windows at just the right times, with shades and draperies to block out heat from direct sun. Late afternoons were spent outdoors on the shady side of the house. We acclimated to the temperatures and found ways to cool down when things were the hottest.

This year, I decided to use some of those techniques again since I work from home and can easily do simple things like open and close windows and shades. Sitting at my desk with its north-facing window, many mornings I need a sweater as the breeze is quite cool. I've thoroughly enjoyed many more hours of fresh air flowing through the house (even though the downside is having to dust more often). Even this week, with temperatures near 100, I may go to bed with the house closed up, but when I wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., as I often do, I'll walk around and open windows then. When the temps drop into the 60's at night, you can collect a lot of nice cool air in the house which will last many hours into the day.

I'm a little nervous to see my July water bill, however. The yard is fully landscaped for the first time ever, and everything is getting watered with a new sprinkling system. I have no idea how my water usage compares to the past. The June bill was so low, I didn't exceed the regular monthly usage which applies year-round. But June was extra cool. July has been hot and dry. Still, most of the yard is in drought-tolerant, low-water plantings with the annuals mostly clustered around the patio where I like to hang out. I apply the tough love principle on the lawn and drought-tolerant areas. They get water, but they aren't allowed to become lush. The landscaper set each watering station to 15 minutes, but I backed them off to 12 each. I water early in the morning only, but on some particularly hot evenings, I'll manually cycle through all the stations after sunset, giving them each a minute or two of water to cool down the parched plants and earth. The bonus is that the temperature drops for the entire yard and house at the same time. I do water every day, which I know is not recommended. But I live on sand and water is not retained in the soil. Watering for longer periods does no good as it drains off rapidly. It's the nature of where I live. I do give the newer trees some deep watering once or twice a month, however. The established trees don't seem to need it. I'll report back on the July water bill when it arrives in August.

I used to feel a little guilty about occupying a rather large house and yard by myself, and yet requiring heating and cooling just the same as if a whole family lived here. But when I see the results of my efforts at reducing energy consumption, there is no need for guilt. I realize it's not about the size of the space I occupy, but how I utilize resources to make my life comfortable.

I didn't do this all overnight. It has taken about six years for me to get to this point. But I think this is proof that if people care and if they really want to do it, we could all drastically reduce our need for fossil fuels while we improve our environment. Of course, the cost savings is a happy bonus.

(Just as an after note, since I work from home, I consume far less fuel for my car. I also conscientiously recycle, which has become more convenient with my city's curbside recycling program. And I carry those reusable grocery bags with me when I shop. These are just a few other things I'm doing to help green my world).

And a few more

2010-07-20T18:03:00.000-06:00

The city came by today to clean up the parking strip, so I made some before shots and decided to grab a few more of the yard while I was at it.

Another angle of the lowest corner of my lot. The day lilies exceed my expectations.

Here's another hybrid lily, a rare "black" lily toward the front of this photo.

The east side along the sidewalk, two views.

And the corner garden with a better view of the upper backyard.

A few more pics around the yard

2010-07-19T20:34:00.001-06:00

I only posted the backyard the last time. So here are some other areas. I posted earlier pics of some of these areas in May, and you can see things change constantly in these plots.

In the front garden the perennials have surged along with a few impatiens.

In the lower front garden, the hybrid day lilies are putting on a show like I haven't seen in about five years. This is slightly pre-dawn light, so they are not fully opened yet.

In the upper corner garden the tall day lilies are having their day as well (though here they are still closed up awaiting the hot sun before they'll show those brilliant orange trumpets) and I have since done some of needed deadheading seen here.

The east is all about perennials too. The daisies and other early summer bloomers have faded and the tall Russian Sage and hummingbird trumpet are coming on while the Jupiter's Beard is getting ready for its second blooming. The black-eyed Susans are very late, but I see they are starting to produce buds. Flowers soon.

Backyard pics

2010-07-16T12:01:00.000-06:00

All of the yard is looking so nice this year, but here is where I spend most of my time. It is shady and cool under the patio all day. The yard itself gets hot sunlight at various times, but overall is mostly shady. The flowers have thrived in pots this year, and even a hosta is about to bloom. Some of this photos I took at noon and the light is much too bright. Others I took just before sunset and things are quite shady. It's hard to get good balanced light in this area. I'll try and get shots of the rest of the yard soon.

The McCartney Concert

2010-07-14T07:19:00.008-06:00

I want to write this while still basking in the afterglow. It was a thrill to be among the 40,000 fans at the Paul McCartney concert last night. We were there! By "we" I mean three of my sisters and one brother-in-law, my son and his wife, two of my friends and their husbands -- those are the ones I know of. We didn't all sit together, we were scattered about. Where I was sitting, the seats were wonderful -- I had a great view of the stage. I knew this would be good, but had no idea how truly fantastic it would be.

From the time McCartney took the stage around 8 p.m. until he exited at 11-ish, he was singing, dancing, playing all kinds of instruments, telling stories, and entirely positive and upbeat. We all felt that he really was thrilled to be performing for us. And the band members, too. Each one appeared to not only be really into the performance, but also truly having the time of their lives doing it.

I feel infused with so much positive energy today, I am practically floating.

And speaking of the band, really, what a sound from the most basic group. A drummer, a bass, a lead guitar, and a keyboard -- and Paul switching off with every tune. The band did the backup singing too. The synergy of the group was marvelous. You could tell they liked being together.

This was an event I've waited for for 46 years. I've been a Beatles fan since there were Beatles. The experience was everything I expected and more. And now it's a memory, but it will be among the treasured memories of my lifetime.

And one thing I take away from the experience is the importance of producing positive energy in our lives. Paul has certainly suffered tragedy and trial. But he emerges smiling and happy, and then proceeds to make thousands of people around him feel happy too. I have a desire to do the same with my small life -- to greet each day with a positive energy that feels good to me and influences those whose lives touch mine that day.

The final words of the concert: And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make.

Surprise money

2010-07-13T06:08:00.000-06:00

Got a check from the IRS marked "Tax Refund". Not a big one, about 80 bucks. But a surprise. I owed this year - sent my check in last April. Did I make a mistake? No explanation accompanied the check. I used my usual software and did the taxes myself. My finances are not complicated. But it may be time to hire a professional to do the taxes.

A trip to the mountains

2010-07-12T06:20:00.000-06:00

Yesterday my sister Peg posted a note on Facebook that she was taking a drive to the mountains in the afternoon if anyone would like to come. After sitting around feeling bored all day, I jumped at the chance. There are so many beautiful and accessible places we can go on a Sunday drive. For this one, we headed up Weber Canyon, turned off towards Kamas and then took the road to Smith-Morehouse. I'm not sure if this is considered part of the Uintahs -- you can certainly see the Uintah mountains from there. But it was a great day for taking pictures and here are a few things we saw.

This last photo, I shot as I was just leaving my house and one of the tiny spotted fawns ran out in front of my car and down the street. My camera was at hand, but I wasn't fast enough to get him before he was in the deep grass. Darn.

A series of slightly strange and totally unrelated experiences

2010-07-02T14:55:00.004-06:00

A series of small things have occurred this past week that by themselves are insignificant, but taken together, raise questions in my mind.

After struggling for a week with getting the tire back on my new bike and hooking up the brakes, I finally gave up and decided I would have to get some professional help. And then, I tried one more time. It was like I had an epiphany. I looked at the brakes and knew exactly what I needed to do. Click, snap, it was done. I can't imagine why I had so much trouble or why I suddenly saw the solution.

A couple of days ago I blogged about a young female deer that wandered into my backyard and hung by very close to me nibbling at goodies in my yard. It was a singularly thrilling moment to see that animal so close up while unaware of my presence. Her front legs - so slender, they look incapable of supporting her. Her extra tall ears that she will eventually grow into. Her lovely tan fur that will go more gray in the winter and as she ages. It was my second close encounter with her this week.

Later that evening, after dark, I was inside opening up windows to let the cool night breezes into the house when I was startled to find myself standing in front of the tall living room windows, brightly illuminated in the glare of a police spotlight. The light stayed on me for awhile and then swept the front yard, and as the patrol car inched down the road, swept the houses and yards of my neighbors. Looking for someone. I didn't feel scared, but did lock the door to the patio where I'd just been sitting. I have no idea what that was about.

Last night was the first night all summer I slept with the windows closed and the AC running as the temps were still in the 80's at bedtime. But at 2 a.m., I awoke for no reason. And decided to see if there were any cool breezes to be had. I opened windows and then sat for a bit by the living room window looking out at the night. I thought I could hear water running. I could see water in the gutter under the street light by my neighbor's house. Having had some real water disasters here in the past, I dressed quickly and went out to investigate. Yes water was streaming out of cracks in the road and flowing down the street. I called the city's emergency water number. To make a long story short, it was a break in a water line, and about 12 hours later, the line was fixed and back in service. Had I not awakened when I did, the broken pipe would have gotten worse and serious damage could have occurred as in the past. Why did I wake up? Why did I decide to open windows?

Now running on no sleep, I am glad I decided at the last minute yesterday to ask for the day off from work. I had been working on a project that required me to work in raw HTML code -- not exactly my forte. They wanted it finished by Friday. I hit a roadblock. Something was broken in my code and I couldn't figure out what. Again, as if an epiphany, I realized the very simple thing I was doing wrong. I finished the project on Thursday and was able to start my holiday weekend a day early. Good thing. My brain would not have functioned well today on so little sleep.

Although, today, after a little research online, I managed to purchase a simple bike rack that I thought I could manage. And after studying the directions, got it assembled and mounted on the car, got the bike loaded on and tied down, and took it for a test drive. Beautiful. I'm ready for my ride tomorrow and no longer any need to remove the tire to fit the bike inside the car.

This morning as I was making coffee and keeping an eye on the street workers, a huge black cat came into my yard and onto my patio. I turned on the outside lights to get a good look. A well-fed fluffy beautiful cat. I had never seen it before. We almost never see stray cats or dogs in the neighborhood. People keep their pets in their yards. No idea where this cat came from or where it went. Some people think animals come to us as messengers. I'm a skeptic. But the animal world is certainly making itself at home with me.

Tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of the death of my ex-husband. I have been thinking about this as the time has gotten closer. I have decided that it will be a turning point for me. I need to stop being sad about that loss. I need to stop thinking of my house and yard as still his and mine. It is just mine. I need to stop hoping he would be pleased, and stop feeling regret that he didn't get to enjoy this new thing or that. I looked up the 5 steps of grief: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I know I didn't do any bargaining. And there was very little anger. But yes, denial, depression, and acceptance. When my boyfriend moved to Minnesota two months ago, it was yet another loss and a setback. But I am determined that there will be an end to sadness and it starts tomorrow. Maybe I don't need to do all the steps. I just need to want this change enough to make it happen.

Perhaps being alone so much of the time, I'm overthinking everything, and small things seem enlarged. It occurs to me I may even be becoming weird or eccentric. But I know one thing: I am very very lucky to have the life that I have, with its opportunities and rewards. I don't take that for granted. Things can happen and life can change so quickly. A year has passed. There will be no more mourning. Tomorrow truly is the first day of the rest of my life.

UPDATE: Dammit! The street sprung another leak. This time water came bubbling up right in front of my house. I called the city and quickly filled every sink, tub and every possible water-holding vessel, and finished filling the tub just as the water shut off. Police have blocked off part of the street and are directly traffic. A crew is on the way. And we just play the waiting game now. I think it's time for an adult beverage.

A little visitor

2010-06-30T21:42:00.002-06:00

A young doe visited me tonight as I sat on the patio. It was just dusk. I was sitting quietly enjoying the fragrant flowers when she wandered into the backyard, nibbling the hanging plants. It wasn't the first time I've seen her here. Monday night as I rolled the garbage can out to the curb in the dark, she and I startled one another as I discovered her cleaning out the bird feeders in the front yard. She knows where they all are. She made her way to each one in the back tonight as I sat not moving. She even nibbled at the hummingbird feeders, but found them not to her liking. A real bonanza was found where one feeder had been blown out of the tree by today's strong winds, providing a nice stash of sunflower seeds on the ground. She was a bare 10 feet from me. She looked directly at me several times but went on feeding. But when a mosquito landed on my arm, I moved to brush it away. She didn't run right away, but watched me awhile and then walked away slowly.

If I'd followed my earlier instincts, I would have had a camera in my hand. The yard looked particularly pretty tonight and I had almost gone inside for my camera earlier, but hadn't. I almost need to keep that camera with me all the time.

I'm going to have to hang those feeders higher.

Not sporting

2010-06-26T08:57:00.000-06:00

My home is a sports-free zone. It seems every day of the year has a HUGE sporting event that has everyone talking and making predictions and getting emotionally worked up. Not me. I OD'd on sports during my previous marriage. My ex was a sports addict and followed everything - some things with great passion while others with mild interest, and yet others with great disdain (but nevertheless followed). We had VCRs and TVs all over the house recording events. We all knew well never to make any mention of a score we may have heard lest we spoil the game or match he planned to watch later. We attended so many hockey games and it was important that I understand all the rules and the subtleties of the game (yes hockey does have some subtleties).

After we split up, I began to eliminate sports from my life. First unconsciously and then more deliberately. When watching the news, I either switched the channel or turned it off as soon as a sports story came on. Sometimes that is easy since sports is confined to after-weather time slots. But sometimes sports is big news, like who got drafted and who won in the World Cup (Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Playoffs, Stanley Cup, March Madness, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, World Series of Poker, ad infinitum). But I avoid what I can, and I certainly never spend time actually viewing a sporting event on TV myself.

It's remarkable how eliminating something like that from your life frees you up for other things. I realize now how much of my time and attention was devoted to someone else's passion that was not my own.

I'm not obnoxious about it. If friends or family are celebrating their team's big win, I congratulate them. I remember the excitement and fervor of those big events. Back in the day, those were times for parties, food, gatherings, fun. Yes, I enjoyed those times, even if I didn't care much about the game.

But now, my home is a sports-free zone. And it feels more like my own space this way.

Sorry no photos (UPDATE - photos after all)

2010-06-17T20:17:00.001-06:00

UPDATE: My brilliant son, one of several, managed to retrieve everything from my laptop hard drive, even though the laptop itself is DOA. I'm posting a couple of my favorites from the party here. Others may still be seen on Facebook at the link below.

I downloaded all my party photos to my laptop and the next day the laptop was fried. It's a long story and at the moment I'm not sure if I'll retrieve anything from it. Luckily, I had already posted the best party photos on Facebook.

I use my laptop mostly for photos and surfing while I watch TV, so the only thing I lost was a lot of photos, and mostly recent ones. And as I thought about it, I realized that most of those needed a good culling anyway and I had already posted my favorites here on the blog or on Facebook.

The party photos can be seen here on Facebook.

The one thing you can't control - the weather

2010-06-11T06:53:00.001-06:00

Have been executing the plan: Wednesday fnished up some things in the yard, yesterday cleaned the house and even did a little more in the yard, today I shop and prepare some of the food. Tomorrow morning I'll pick up cakes and catered food.

I've had my eye on the weather forecast for a week and it has gradually gotten worse - heavy rain tomorrow and temps in the low 60's. Honestly, we'll see just how bad it is. These storms have been intense but brief. Hard to say if that's what we can expect tomorrow.

Yesterday it rained in the a.m., cleared up and was sunny until about 4:30. This morning there is no rain, but cool temps, with rain predicted later. But tomorrow the coldest and wettest of the week. Well, we have the covered patio and indoor areas. It could be crowded, but I don't think we can count on seating people in unprotected areas. Jenn and Zach will come over tonight and we'll figure it out.

One way or another, we are getting ready to party.

Arbor

2010-06-06T22:54:00.001-06:00

Well, I didn't know if I could do it or not, but it turned out I managed just fine. Even the part where the instructions said two people were needed, I did it alone okay. The only problem I ran into was misalignment of the preset screw holes. One that was on a cylindrical upright was off by about 1/8th of an inch. It was a place where the bench fastened to the pole. No amount of tugging on that thing made any difference. I finally to some metal cutters and nibbled both holes in the front and back of the seat just to allow the screw to reach the hole. It was still tricky, being on a curved surface, the bench wouldn't reach around. But by twisting and skewing, I finally got all screws on all sides of the bench firmly fastened. I would have finished the job in one day except for that glitch.

Today I finished the upper part. The upper apron and cross slats served to really straighten the whole unit. I just finger-tightened the slats on the top as a huge thunderstorm was rolling in. I'll do another round of tightening on Wednesday.

Rain is predicted for Saturday, our party day. But I suspect it will just make things pleasant and cool. I'll set up many chairs indoors and as many on the patio as I can, but won't try to put people anywhere they might get rained on. I'll eliminate tables as we are crowded, and people can hold their plates on their laps. It will be just fine.

Now I have to get busy with cleaning the house. I've neglected it for a couple of weeks while working intensely outdoores. And I've tracked in dirt and bark in the process. So cleaning starts tomorrow. I'm taking three days off work this week, so I should have no problem getting everything done. Just follow the plan.

Here's is a shot of that cool arbor I have some hanging pots full of gorgeous flowers to hang up there. And I'm looking for some cute cushions for the seats. The location where I have it is very hot in the afternoon, so, I'm thinking I might weave some lengths of cheesecloth through the upper slats to filter the sunlight to my hanging plants. I'm also posting a photo of the new flower bed right by the patio. It's long and narrow and very colorful right now.

Photos of the Yard: Things are coming together at last

2010-05-30T08:01:00.002-06:00

Pictures of some of the areas of the yard now. Most of the flower beds are planted, as well as pots. Perennials are growing at last. All the cleanup is done and new sprinklers are working great. In the bright morning sun, some of these photos are too yellow, but I'm not going to take time to photoshop them. Still things to be done. I'm going to straighten the patio blocks that make my checkerboard thyme section, and then put together that arbor. I think we have baby scrub jays and baby chickadees. What a racket they are all making this morning.

This is a new flower bed next to my covered patio. A very shady area. Also my patio pots that are clustered on the thyme checkerboard but will find new homes around the yard in the coming couple of weeks.

This is the corner flower bed. Highly visible to all who drive by and a hot location in the summer. I removed a lot of day lilies to make room for other things here.

Here is what's left of myrtle hill. It was full of grass and had to go. Little by little I'll introduce other things here. May plant some bushes along the sidewalk to give the backyard more privacy.

This is the xeriscaped area. All the perennials are late but are looking good. The pink chintz is actually a strong lavendar color, though you can't tell it by this picture.

The front phlox is so pretty, the color in this photo does not do it justice. You can't see the impatiens, but they're there.

My newly reclaimed upper level where I will place tables and chairs for our party.

And one of my favorite things in this outdoor remodel - the railroad tie steps that go all the way to the sidewalk. No more risking broken bones to climb up that hill.

Ok, trees today

2010-05-27T05:33:00.001-06:00

My excitement is replaced with exhaustion. They have done an incredible job and have pretty much finished everything -- except planting the trees and testing the sprinklers. I had them extend the railroad tie steps on the east side all the way to the sidewalk and also provide an easier access to the other end of my new patio area. They worked 14 hours yesterday. I put in a good day of work at the computer - not so physical, so why am I feeling so exhausted? I think I'm ready for them to be finished.

I think I know what it is.

I feel a little sense of trepidation while they are working. They do things BIG. They use power tools, they dig deep trenches, they cut things way back, and they sometimes remove my intentional plantings - my perennials that have a sort of weedy look. I know what they are, I planted them. I use much more finesse in my approach to yardwork. They get in, work hard, fast, and get it done. I could not have accomplished all they have done if I worked at it every day for a year. And I am so glad that all those troublesome areas are now weeded, covered in fabric and mulched. I can plant to my heart's content. I am sad at losing some plants, but it hasn't been many and it's part of the process, especially with the new pipe for the sprinklers. It will all be good. But I'm ready for them to be finished.

The trees are definitely supposed to go in today and that will cheer me greatly, I know.

I seriously appreciate the hard work and long days - not to mention long weeks - these guys put in. I don't know how they can do it. Every day I set out a tray of pastries for them on my patio table. In the cooler weather I also made coffee for them. Yesterday I printed up a note to put with the pastries: "Gracias!" in big bold letters. Because I do appreciate what it must take to do their job.

My next concern is with the gas company. When will the orange cones and yellow pipes and torn up pavement be gone from my street? I can't even get a pretty "after" photo of the yard while it's all perfect because of the street construction. *Sigh.* Of course, a bigger concern is whether they will be finished in two weeks so our guests will be able to park on the street. If not, we'd better have a Plan B in place.

UPDATE: Well, the job is entirely and completely finished. I've inspected everything and had a complete walk through of the sprinkling system. It's excellent -- really well done. I may hire this guys to do the mowing and edging during the summer. They are fast and do great work.

The trees are so lovely. Here they are, the Colorado Blue Spruce, and Flowering Plum.

Trees Today

2010-05-26T07:00:00.003-06:00

Today the landscapers are back. Temps are in the 50's this morning but will be in the 70's by afternoon. They have already power-raked and edged the front lawn. Big piles of dry brown thatch are now lying on top of the perky green lawn. They will be doing more work on the sprinkling system today, too.

But most exciting, I'm getting two new trees planted. A Colorado Blue Spruce (inexplicably Utah's state tree) will go somewhere in the area where all the myrtle once resided. And a flowering plum will go in the apple tree's old spot. I wanted something to attract the birds, but decided not to get a messy fruit tree next to the patio. The flowering plum only produces token tiny plums that really make very little mess.

I spent an hour and a half and wore out three different workers at the nursery talking about trees. A tree is a long-term decision and I wanted to make the right one. The blue spruce was easy - I knew exactly what I wanted. There were a number to choose from there -- some with the true silvery blue color and some with a more green color. I wanted the silvery blue. There was one that so appealed to me, I wanted it the second I saw it. I perfunctorily looked at all the other options and came back to the same one. I just loved it. I am thrilled it will be in my yard.

The tree by the patio was harder. A friend had suggested a crab apple or hawthorn if I wanted to attract birds. I strongly considered those, but decided against the hawthorn due to the nasty thorns, and against the crab apple as I didn't want that much mess right by my patio and deck. I will still consider a crab apple somewhere else in the yard. Later. After the big party is over. And maybe a couple of fruit trees too.

The flowering plum was a surprise decision to me. It has those purplish brown leaves throughout the growing season. I never really considered a tree with such color. But then one of the workers at the nursery reminded me of something that has made me wish for one of these trees: It is the first tree of the spring to bloom and it is gloriously covered with pink blossoms. I remembered how delightful it is when you first see those trees at the end of the gray winter. It does give you new excitement and hope for the change in season. I knew then I really wanted that tree.

If the trees are actually put into the ground today, pictures will follow. Yes, I'm a tree hugger.

May 24, 2010 - Snow!

2010-05-24T10:42:00.002-06:00

Might as well post the pictures.

UPDATE: At 4 p.m. the sun is shining, the sky is blue, snow is melting. The weatherman says it's a record: the latest ever measurable snow in Salt Lake.

Update on things in the yard

2010-05-23T15:17:00.001-06:00

The landscaper arrived on Saturday morning to start phase II which entails an entirely new sprinkling system as well as digging up most of my myrtle patch and putting down landscape fabric and bark mulch like the other areas. Luckily I was away much of the day and did not have to witness the devastation as it was happening. I arrived home about 5 p.m. to find my yard a maze of trenches, piles of dirth, rolls of sod, and pipes and fittings. I went inside and just ignored it. When I went back out about 8:30 as they were wrapping up for the day, I was pleasantly surprised to see all the trenches filled and all the grass and plants back in place.

I planted annuals in the big patio pots on Friday evening by the light of my patio lights. We had extreme cold temps and rain on Friday night and into Saturday with snow fairly low on the mountain benches. The only plants that don't look well are the sweet potato vine. I hope to nurse them back to help in the coming warmer days.

The chickadees seem to have babies. I've seen the parents bringing little bugs and worms into the birdhouse. This morning I could tiny little chirpings.

I dug up weeds in flowers beds 3 and 4 (of 5) today. One was easy, but the other was was very hard. I had been encouraging a volunteer plant called Myrtle Spurge which turns out to be a noxious weed that will suck the water away from all your other plants. It's all gone now, but I'll have to be diligent with young plants in the coming months as it is very persistent. I finished digging the grass out along the top of the rock wall and then weeded throughout the rock wall and especially that troublesome place between my wall and my neighbor's rock wall. There is some erosion there as well as some spreading sedum. After digging out all the weeds and more spurge, I took clumps of the sedum and transplanted here and there to help it to fill the area. I also have a wisteria vine that wandered down there and I think it might just be a nice place to encourage the wisteria too.

So I'm exhausted as I write, but have accomplished so much. Now I need to shop for more patio pots and plants. I'm not going to add annuals and mulch to the latest flower beds now until the landscapers are funished with phase II. Another couple of days or so and then more planting. I love the planting part. It's tiring, but things look so pretty when you're finished. So rest time is almost over - time to move on to pots. It's only 3:15. With the sunlight now lasting to 8:30, it's possible to get a lot done in the late afternoon and evening. Off I go. . .

Chickadee Update

2010-05-17T12:57:00.000-06:00

The little chickadees are still coming and going from the birdhouse. No signs of babies yet, but I'm keeping a watch from a distance. I'll try to catch a photo at some point.

The weekend agenda

2010-05-16T15:35:00.004-06:00

I had a lot planned this weekend and it was all in the yard. And I got a lot of it done. I am now sitting collapsed on the couch barely able to make my fingers type, but happy that I got so much done. In a nutshell I weeded and mulched two flower beds and mowed most of the lawn.

I started with the new flower bed by the patio. I had planted hostas there last year which the deer ate right down to the ground. But amazingly, they are back and flourishing. The iris I also planted last year from starts donated by a friend are doing fairly well considering the shady cool spot they are in. I filled in all around with dianthas and snapdragons (these were the large size just to give the garden some color now), marigolds, zinnias, dusty miller, and a row of pink begonias. Everything got fertilized, mulched, sprayed with deer repellent. The begonias were quite risky and we'll see if the deer really stay away. I dug up a lot of ivy and mytle that had strayed where it didn't belong. I'm half tempted to dig it all out and plant something new. But we'll see.

Today I weeded and mulched the flower bed directly in front of the house. This one is harder because it's a hill and quite steep. I always wear my hiking boots when working in the yard. I can't afford another injury. The mulching was particularly hard here as the bags are so heavy. I added manure (seed-free, it says) top soil, and bark mulch. The top soil was particularly heavy because it was bagged wet and remained wet. I didn't plant any annuals in this bed yet. I will wait until the new sprinkling system is in before planting any more as there's a risk the workers will dig up my new plants. I do think I'll plant all the pots, though.

After the front bed was done, I was doubtful I had the strength to mow the lawn. But I decided to try it. I removed the bagging attachment and just mulched and left the clippings on the lawn. The mower started on the first pull. I considered that a good sign, and proceeded to mow down to the rock wall. The lower part of the hill that gets all the drainage has the longest wettest grass. I'll probably go out and rake it up later so the grass doesn't burn up under it tomorrow in the sun. I stopped at the rock wall - falling down exhausted.

After several glasses of water and one very cold shower, and sitting here blogging for a few minutes, I'm beginning to think I may live. This is good because there are three more flower beds to do. Actually four more, I forgot about the lasagna garden from last year. And the rock wall itself is full of weeds. I'm wondering if the landscaper crew will help me with that when they come this week. But the yard is looking very nice. Things are growing and even blooming.

After the sprinkling system is in, I will plant more annuals. I want color everywhere this year for our party in June for Jenn and Zach.

If I'm up to it, I'll get some photos later to show the progress made.

Okay, here are photos. Above, is the steep front flower bed - phlox just coming on. Below, half of the back gardenn (I couldn't get a good shot of the whole thing), wisteria in bloom and making the whole neighborhood fragrant, and the xeriscaped section of the yard, doing its own thing - coming along. The bright afternoon sun doesn't show these at their best. but it'll do.

More landscaping

2010-05-10T17:54:00.000-06:00

I am so delighted, the landscaper will be back next week to start on the new sprinkling system. The bid came in well below what I thought it might be (far below another quote I had gotten a few years ago). Once that is done, the yard care will become so much more enjoyable and manageable for me. It eases my mind a bit. And Jenn and Zach spent a couple of hours yesterday with me planning their marriage party (we are not calling it a wedding reception - it's a party!). It will be casual food, mostly catered, and should be lots of fun. We are going to do some hand chopping of some veggies. And we want to do the chocolate-dipped fruit ouselves. I hope we can manage it.

I am thinking in terms of BP and AP -- before party and after party. It's just a month away. I feel we have plenty of time to be ready.

Blogging from bed

2010-05-03T23:48:00.002-06:00

I should be sleeping, it's after 11. But the mind just won't shut off. It's been a Monday. Not a horrible one, but a somewhat overwhelming one. My workload has increased exponentially in the last few months. And now I'm frankly not sure if projects will get done on time for the first time since I've worked there. This month is my eight-year anniversary there. When I started we had three testers and one writer. Now we have 16 or so (I've lost count) testers and one writer. They tell me they've put in the budget for another writer come July but there's no telling if the position will be approved. So I told my boss we'll just have to start deciding which projects won't get their needed documents. I'm keeping my sense of humor about it, though. There's much to laugh about. One day I will devote an entire post to acronyms - the IT world loves them.

My problem today was all my good plans got shot to hell. I prioritize my work carefully. I keep copious notes on my projects and where I am at any given time as there are too many of them to keep in my head. Many things need to keep moving forward simultaneously, and I have to change gears constantly. We have a number of deadlines hitting in the next couple of weeks and I have been finishing off several and turning loose from them. Unfortunately, it seems they don't stay finished. We're going to change just one more thing. Oh, by the way, the same thing will apply on this other project, too. Or, can we add some explanation here about this thing. Or we're changing the look of this one little thing on the screen which just happens to appear in a dozen screen shots, so you'lll need to set up all the scenarios to grab those again. And of course write up all the changes for that. And so it goes. And yet another says, Becky, have you started on my project yet? And today was the day and I feel badly because it didn't happen -- because all the finished projects weren't finished after all. I ended the work day by writing down what I needed to do to finish two projects that have now been finished a half dozen times each. Will it stick? I don't know, but I need to move on.

After work I met with the landscaper and we walked around the yard and talked about what I need done next. The sprinkling system I have is a disaster and I've limped along with it for four years now fixing it as best I can on my own. Alberto said we can just fix it or we can replace it. I'm going to get the bid on the full replacement and then decide if the budget can stand it. He talked about heavy duty pipe that won't break so I don't have to worry about shutting off the water supply all the time. And a drip system to the trees and bushes so as not to waste water. Sprinkling grass and the consolidated areas of flowers. Still water-wise. Good quality sprinkler heads that won't leak or break and set low enough in the ground I won't run over them with the mower (the mower - another issue I need to deal with). New valves and a timer to manage the watering for me. It will seem like heaven if it all really happens like that. But I have a lot of confidence in Alberto since the first work he did for me. I'm hoping the bid is something I can manage.

Oh he's going to do more clean up and bring in more bark. And will plant a couple of trees for me too. Last year's lasagne gardening experiment in the myrtle is a failure as the grasses have invaded throughout and there is no hope of saving the myrtle. Well half of it will be saved. But the other half will go to bark like the rest of the yard. So that I'm doing for sure.

All these things are rolling around in my head now instead of allowing me some peaceful sleep. So here I am blogging in bed and approaching midnight with the alarm set to go off at 5 a.m. But it feels better to have just put some words down, however disjointed they may be.

In closing I just want to mock that phrase management is so foud of throwing around: Work smarter, not harder. Hah! If I work much smarter, my brain just might explode!

You Can Never Hold Back Spring

2010-04-27T05:43:00.000-06:00

I'm so busy, there's just no time for blogging. Things are looking better and better in the yard, though I haven't planted this year's color yet. We are getting another storm tomorrow through the weekend -- yes, snow! Saturday the landscaper comes to evaluate the sprinkling system and give me a quote on the project. In the meantime, I have indoor projects lined up for the next few days.

Update on stereo boy

2010-04-18T11:45:00.002-06:00

You all know whom I'm talking about by now - the guy in the house behind mine who plays his stereo so loud, I can feel it inside my house. Yes, it's Sunday morning, but it makes no difference to him.

I was out around 10-ish this a.m. poisoning gophers (another story for another day), he was working in his front yard with the front door and living room windows all wide open and blasting his very fine stereo. I should explain, he is slightly uphill from me and a street runs between our houses, and the front of his house faces my backyard squarely, so I probably get more benefit of his stereo than any of his other neighbors. Today's selection had kind of a folksy flavor at first -- sort of an Irish or Chieftans sort of sound - at first. I didn't mind so much and decided to just enjoy it, though unfamiliar to me. Then it changed and became a blaring rap sort of thing with the Irish background continuing on and foul language in the "lyrics". It was awful and I wondered what his church-going neighbors with small children thought of it. I looked up at his house and at him just as he stopped working and looked at me. Eye contact. And then, a North Salt Lake cop drove slowly up the street between us. Stereo boy looked at the cop and then back at me. What just happened? Did he think I called the cops? He probably did. He didn't look friendly. He didn't wave. Neither did I - the moment had passed. I gathered up my gopher poisoning tools and moved to the front yard out of his sight. I noticed the "music" got turned down.

I have no idea whether the cop stopped and talked to him or not - I was out of there too fast. But maybe just that shared look and the coincidence of the cop driving by was enough to make him do the right thing and turn it down.

Honestly, hasn't this guy heard of I-Pod?

It's true, getting old ain't for sissies

2010-04-17T17:36:00.001-06:00

Spent a few hours of work with my son and daughter-in-law digging weeds and grass out of flower beds and spreading bark mulch as they prepare to sell their house. Had lunch, came home, and crashed. Slept for about an hour and woke up aching everywhere. It's so frustrating to me to lose endurance, strength, energy, and then to hurt like crazy on top of all that. I want to be able to work as hard as I always have in the yard, but I'm hitting a wall and I am reluctant to admit it. For now, my plan is to pace myself - not make a marathon out of it. And continue to hire help with the heavy lifting.

And I need to remember, it's been a very sedentary winter for me and these first days outdoors are bound to be taxing. As time goes on, it will get easier.

UPDATE: Two hours later, and doing much better. Pulled myself together and got out to do some errands. I'll admit to taking a couple of Advil first, and that had to have helped. While at Lowe's, I purchased a little garden wagon that is more my size than my big wheelbarrow (currently being borrowed by my son and possibly permanently to be left with him). I bought bags of top soil and steer manure for the small garden along my patio. Irises I planted last fall are already coming up there and I will plant some dianthas in there right away as the deer don't seem to like those and they will tolerate whatever cold temps we still have coming this spring. I managed a stop at the liquor store and grocery store while I was out, made it home and got everything put away except the wagon which I need to assemble. Whatever my other limitations, clearly I still have what it take to shop. Tonight I'll watch a movie and relax. Up early in the morning to prepare that little garden and maybe assemble the wagon. I have some fun things planned in the evening, so I'll remember to pace myself in the yard. Next week, I call Alberto again to come and help me with some more things.

In the morning, I'll try to get a picture of the daffodils, they are starting to look pretty and it's so nice to have something blooming. Eight deer crossed the road in front of my car this evening just two houses down from mine. Most of them are babies Oh my, a population explosion. My poor flowers! They've even started eating the day lilies.

To ENTER or not to ENTER, that is the question

2010-04-06T11:51:00.000-06:00

I write instructions--tell people how to use their software programs, the custom ones we create where I work. It’s a fairly easy job for me, low stress, occasionally challenging, rarely overly-taxing. I’ve been doing this in some form almost continuously since 1981. I’ll be happy to do this until I retire.

For the most part people like my work results and thank me for the help it gives them. But every now and then there’s a bump in the road. Like yesterday.

A young woman involved with one of my projects decided that we must never say ENTER when instructing someone to put data into a field; we must say TYPE. She quoted for her source the Microsoft Style Guide:

Correct: Type your password.
Incorrect: Enter your password.

Sadly, the young woman is somewhat new to the corporate world, and she did what we all know is sure to escalate the matter and extend the discussion: she copied her supervisor and mine in her email.

Thinking to nip this in the bud, I diplomatically replied that there is some disagreement in the technical writing world over this usage, and I have chosen in my own writing to use ENTER as it is well understood by our users and is already used throughout the company. Clarity, I said, is my objective in my writing (copy to both supervisors).

Some huffiness ensued and then a flurry of emails ending (I learned today) with forwards to executives in the company. I surely have not heard the end of this.

My, but people take their rules seriously.

One co-worker forwarded to me a snippet from the UMASS technical writing style guide, also thought to be the definitive authority in the industry, to wit:

Correct: Enter your password.
Incorrect: Type your password.

Yes, they specifically give opposite instructions in this usage. What’s a technical writer to do?

I’ve been exposed to a few style guides in my time, and they each have their own take on all sorts of things. Being of independent spirit, I pick and choose what I like and discard others. It suits me. I'll split an infinitive, write incomplete sentences, I'll even start a sentence with AND.

And let me emphasize, I love language and its correct usage as far as that can be determined. I never confuse AFFECT and EFFECT. I insist that subject and verb agree. But I know the rules about ENTER and TYPE are blurry at best, and it is entirely within my purview to choose how I use them. And so I do.

The young woman’s supervisor did not like my response nor follow-ups from my supervisor, and kicked the matter upstairs to the execs. Good lord, the execs need to think about the usage of ENTER vs TYPE. I can’t wait to hear the outcome.

I’ll be sure to let you know.

Brain Challenges

2010-04-04T08:12:00.001-06:00

This year my oldest child will turn 40. When you have a 40-year old child, there's no denying you are getting into the "old" stage of life. On the news they refer to people my age as "elderly". It makes me laugh. I'm definitely not thinking of myself as elderly. But people age differently, and some of my age definitely do seem much much older. What is the difference? Is it how we think about ourselves? Is it keeping ourselves fit in mind and body? It is genetics? Is it simple luck?

It's probably a little of all of those things. We can't do anything about the latter two - illnesses and genetic predispositions can take a toll over which we have no control. But we can certainly do plenty about the first two.

I was thinking about this today as I did the daily Sudoku on the Washington Post site. I do that puzzle Wednesday through Sunday. I skip Monday and Tuesday as they are too easy now -- I am solving them faster than I can put down the numbers. The WP puzzle is rated by difficulty one through five stars. The puzzles begin at one star on Monday and progress to five on Friday. Then the weekend is usually a three-star on Saturday and five on Sunday.

My goal is to finish quickly without making mistakes. In Sudoku, one mistake is fatal and you have to start again. No guessing either. A guess is simply a gamble. Sudoku is a logic puzzle in which you use various techniques for determining the placement of numbers. Sometimes you determine what CAN go in a spot, and sometimes you determine what CANNOT. I have developed my own techniques and methods, but it still requires some thinking and deducing on my part.

I like to test myself as I play. I look at a row/column/square and see how quickly my brain can determine what numbers are still needed there. I am at my sharpest when I can take it all in in a single glance and know exactly the numbers needed. I am at my dullest when I have to actually run through the numbers 0 through 9. It is proof to me that my brain at certain times functions more optimally than at others. And thus this game has become a little something more to me. It's a way of watching my own mental capacity as I age and determining the things that seems to make me sharper.

I am usually pretty sharp in the morning after a cup of coffee - but not if I've had little sleep. I'm very sharp right after a workday that has involved learning a lot of new material. I can run through a Sudoku, make stunning Scabble plays, solve some tough crossword clues, sight-read piano music. It seems my brain is most available to me when it has had some challenges and has had to work hard -- but is not yet over-tired. I am not at all sharp right before bed. I always have a crossword and a Sudoku on the nightstand, but it is often only a matter of minutes until I can no longer concentrate and I am falling asleep.

I'm rambling on a bit here, but this is all important stuff to me. It helps me to see how people keep their brains fit and accessible into older age. Two things seem to be important: Sleep. Mental challenges. No doubt, food plays a part in this, too.

As I approach retirement age, I have begun paying more attention to what my retired friends do with themselves. I worry that retirement will not offer sufficient mental challenges that I want and need. Perhaps the puzzles and music do help but are they enough? I can't answer that. I'm still figuring this out. But I do have an easy way of keeping tabs on how I'm doing so far.

(By the way, I love the diagonal Sudokus that offer one more dimension to the puzzle. I'm always looking for those.)

Letting Go

2010-04-01T17:03:00.008-06:00

(NOTE: This post has been edited from the original post)
A couple of very dear friends are moving away. Not together, not even at the same time, nor anywhere near the same place--in fact, in completely opposite directions. But far away. A plane ride away. One soon and one a little further down the road.

Good friends are not just a dime a dozen. It takes awhile for a friendship to take on that special level of trust, intimacy, and love. When feeling sentimental, isn't it nice to listen to the old songs from the Great American Songbook?

Phase I Landscaping finished

2010-03-27T13:12:00.000-06:00

For some reason this project exhausted me. I wasn't doing any heavy lifting, but I was letting go in some ways that were difficult. Alberto, the landscaper, had some good ideas and I went along with almost everything. I am pleased with his work and his prices were so reasonable. I have already talked with him about coming back to do my sprinkling system and finish cleanup and add bark in the remaining areas. Here are just a few shots of the results.

The reconfigured and narrower steps leading up to the beautiful new upper level. The apple tree is gone. The little birds visiting yesterday seemd disoriented by that. I'll plant some ground cover along the steps and a new bird-friendly tree at the corner of the deck once I have sprinklers there to keep it alive. That's coming in Phase II.

This is my favorite section - the round patio (we brought in heavier flagstone for this and used my little blue rocks for the pathway). Next fall I'll plant some perennials in here, but this summer I think it will be annuals in pots. I can't wait to sit up here on a summer evening and watch the sunset.

Standing at the top of the new second set of steps looking down on my large swath of xeriscaped area. Many little things are starting to grow, but we won't really see a garden here until April. A second view of that area from the other end looking up from my driveway.

They trimmed up the old pfitzer which I'm keeping for sentimental reasons, but got rid of that one plant that always gave me a rash every time I trimmed it, cleaned up under the bushes and the entire west side, reconfigured my funny little cinderblock steps I put in to get me to the backyard from the front. The next phase I'll have them add the landscape fabric and bark on the west side too.

It's all good

2010-03-25T07:13:00.004-06:00

The landscapers worked almost a solid 12 hours in my yard yesterday. Honestly, they barely took a break for lunch. I put out coffee and muffins and replenished during the day, with cold water as the day got warmer. I appreciate their hard work and honestly feel sort of bad they worked such long hours on my behalf. But I do know they'd do that wherever they were working.

The steps are so nice, the cleanup amazing, and the patio - well I had not imagined how pretty it would be. They said there were not enough of the bluish rocks I already had, so we decided to go with some larger ones for a small additional charge, and they would use my other rocks for a pathway. I'll get pictures when the sun comes up.

I decided to go ahead with the project on the west side while they were there. Their prices are very reasonable and it's work I need to have done. They are putting in a couple of retaining walls for me and taking out the old all-but-dead apple tree. They cut down the tree late last night, and it was a shock to walk out and see it gone. I have an emotional attachment to that tree. It's where I've most enjoyed watching the birds from my dining room all these 30 years I've lived here. I will need to replace it and soon. My heart can hardly stand that vacancy.

They are going to be cutting down some other things today too, but I might put a hold on one of them, my last remaining old pfitzer bush. It's another place the birds love, and it provides a small barrier between my deck and the road. I think I need to keep it lest I feel totally naked to the world on that west side.

Pictures soon, I think.

UPDATE: Okay, here they are from the dim pre-dawn light. The bark is coming along nicely. This picture doesn't do justice to how pretty the new round patio is. But oh what a mess where the apple tree was. In the light of day it's an even greater shock. Patience, Becky, this wiill get better. You can see the steps, not as wide, not as steep, more of them. But we exposed an old unused sprinkler line in the process and that will have to come out.

Just for a point of reference, here's how that tree was looking two years ago, already quite dead:

I realize things sometimes have to get worse before they get better. I remember when they tore down my room addition to turn it into a covered patio. I so love my patio now, but that, too, was such a shock at first. Why do we cling to things even when change is so needed?

Landscapers Tomorrow!

2010-03-23T18:08:00.001-06:00

I promised myself I'd get help this year. When a landscaper I had used previously dropped by two weeks ago asking if I had any work for him, I decided to look at what I needed and break it into three jobs. I was thinking I might have him do one, two or all three jobs. He started at $3,000 total with his bid and dropped to $2,500. I felt somewhat unsure. It seemed high and I had had some problems with his work the two occasions I had hired him. I decided to get a couple more bids. When he dropped by a day later, he dropped his bid to $2,000 but I would still have to pay for the mulch above that. The second guy had done work for my sister and he seemed to really grasp what I needed. He promised to mail me his quote. It never arrived. The third guy I found from a flyer left on the doorknob of a friend of mine. I was surprised the guy seemed to have a very good grasp of what I wanted and he made a couple of suggestions to improve on my ideas. The bid was just under $1700 including all materials.

After thinking about it over the weekend, I called the third guy on Monday and said let's do it. He asks for no payment until the job is done and I'm satisfied. He said he could start this week. He just called and he will be here tomorrow.

So here's where we're starting. I'm excited to be getting this done.

Steps to the upper level. My husband had made these out of full-length railroad ties years ago. Now they are tilting forward and slanting to the west. We will cut these long ties in half and make two sets of stairs, one at either side of that upper level. He will reinforce them with rebar to hold them firmly in place. This is such an ugly area just outside my dining room, I'll be so happy to have it cleaned up and straightened up.

The upper level. Long unused, it is the only flat spot in my yard and was once grass-covered and a place for croquet and badminton for the kids. The workers will clean this up and put down landscaper's fabric and spread bark so I can extend my xeriscaping here. Somewhere here we will also put down sand and lay some rocks I have as pavers for a small patio.

Here are the rocks I got for free from my boss last year just for hauling them away. Rocks are expensive and I was glad to get these. I think the blue coloring is particularly interesting and should make for a pretty centerpiece in my upper level.

My main xeriscaped area will get all new rich brown bark this year. Two years ago I worked very hard with the help of my granddaughter and put down some mulch that already looked rather gray and faded. My landscaper promises nice and brown and he will bring a sample for me to approve. I have already cut down all of last year's growth here, so it's pretty barren with just some daffodils and tulips poking through. But everything is putting up shoots and it will soon be very pretty.

So those are the three areas. If that goes well, I have some work for them to do on the west side, too. With all that heavy lifting done, my job of maintaining becomes much easier. And who knows, I may just hire some of that done as well.

Movie Review: Moon

2010-03-23T17:28:00.000-06:00

*****

I don't watch a lot of sci-fi, but I took my daughter's advice and ordered Moon from Netflix. It has an interesting enough concept: an energy company has a mining operation on the moon harvesting a fuel that has replaced fossil fuels on earth and solved our energy problems. The moon station is manned by one man who is just two weeks from the end of his three-year contract and will soon be going home. His job is to keep the automated mining equipment online and to pick up filled canisters from time to time and shoot them back to Earth.

The moon station is appropriately futuristic, although worker Sam Bell has brought in an old leather chair and keeps family pictures tacked up around his sleeping quarters. A detailed hand-carved wood replica of his town on earth gives the impression he's been there a very long time.

Sam is well tired of his job and very anxious to get home. His conversations with his wife and with his employer have been reduced to recordings as the live link to the moon is broken. Sam is discouraged with the company for not making the communications link a higher priority. Sam's only companion on the moon is a charming robot named "Gerty", with the voice provided by Kevin Spacey. You can't help feeling the loneliness. And then one day, another person shows up . . .

I won't get into the plot more than this as it would be too easy to give too much away. I have to admit I was drawn into the story and began to really feel for the characters. Sam suffers some injuries, and there are some bloody scenes that required some eye-covering on my part. I'm squeamish. I did find myself getting ahead of the story a time or two, but there were sufficient surprises and tense moments.

The theme of the movie plays well because the dilemma is most believable. This isn't Star Wars by any means, it's more cerebral and less fantastic. The movie is well done and will hold your interest. I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars.

Movie Review: The Ghost Writer

2010-03-15T05:24:00.001-06:00

*****

Saturday a storm rolled in, rain at first and then snow. I had planned to do more spring cleanup in the yard, but the weather spoiled my plans. And since the house was clean and everyone I know was off doing Saturday things, I took myself out to a movie on the spur of the moment. I chose "The Ghost Writer" which had just arrived at Salt Lake's Broadway Theatre -- the place for foreign and independent movies, and occasionally mainstream movies with more of an edge. This movie would fall into the latter category.

Directed by Roman Polanski, this was billed as a suspense thriller. This is a bit out of the normal genre for me, but I liked the writeup in the NY Times. It turned out to suit me quite well. This was no Robert Ludlum story with numerous characters and a complex plot. The cast is small and the storyline simple. Facts are slowly revealed to you the viewer as our main character learns them. There is just enough tension in the movie to keep you alert but not overly tense.

The movie opens in London with our main character, the ghost writer, played so well by Ewan McGregor, applying for the job of rewriting the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister, played by Pierce Brosnan. McGregor's predecessor in the position has met an untimely death, falling overboard from a ferry and drowning. Right away we begin to realize that all is not as it seems. Questions arise, and clues begin to emerge. Little by little we are drawn into the story and, through the eyes of the ghost writer, we learn the answers that lead us to the ultimate conclusion.

I particularly liked the style of the movie. It had the feel of an updated 1940's Bogart mystery. The characters are fairly one-dimensional but deliciously so. The dialogue is crisp, clipped, spare. Most of the movie takes place on an island off the Cape Cod coast. The dismal weather, the stark but beautiful seacoast, the fortress-like building, all contribute to the uneasy feeling of personal discomfort and possible danger.

The political background has just enough flavor of recent history. You might believe the Prime Minister is based on, but is not quite, Tony Blair. The war-profiteering company Hatherton is clearly meant to remind you of real-life Haliburton. But the story necessarily departs from reality there.

The one distraction for me was Kim Catrell's phony British accent, as she played the role of the Prime Minister's personal assistant. Her voice was unnaturally high pitched, and when she says "Right!", it just doesn't feel right. Much better, I think, to have cast her as an American assistant and allowed her to use her more suitable sultry voice. Still, the distraction was minor.

I give this movie four stars out of five. While the plot was a bit thin, that was more than made up for by the acting, the scenery, the photography, and the way in which the story was told. It turned out to be a very pleasant way to spend a rainy afternoon. Walking out of the theater afterward was a bit like closing the cover on an enjoyable mystery novel. I recommend this one.

"Rated PG-13 for language, brief nudity/sexuality, some violence and a drug reference."

Consolidation

2010-03-14T11:07:00.001-06:00

This is just a little FYI. I'm giving up on my separate blogs for movie and books reviews. For one thing, I rarely post there. For another thing, I am simply committed to writing in too many separate places, and I need to simplify my online presence. So I've iimported all the past movie and book reviews into this blog and will post any future such reviews here. I'll try to remember to put "Review" in the title of those posts to help identify them. I'll keep RedStateBlues as a separate political and commentary blog.

Back to the lists

2010-02-23T06:41:00.000-07:00

The remodel was so big, I stuck with one big general list of things to do and abandoned my daily or weekly lists. Consequently, I slacked off a lot and wasted a lot of the past two months. No more. Yesterday I began the daily LOTTD again and it was successful. I always do best if I write it down in the morning. I had a small interruption in the evening to help out a friend, and it reminded me to not expect to fill up every waking minute. And I did remember to put myself on the list - my walk, stretches, etc., intended to take care of my well-being.

Now that the snow has mostly melted, I'm getting eager to do even some small things in the yard. It's still so cold, and I can't stay out long, but even a half hour at a time will allow for some satisfaction.

It feels good to be getting back into the groove.

Where I like to hang out

2010-02-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

As part of my recent remodeling and redecorating, I've been moving artwork around, too, trying things out on different walls. I am lucky to have a few pieces of lovely original artwork, among them some special pieces by our own blogger and facebook friend Jacqui Binford-Bell. I promised to send her a picture when I had these hung and never got around to it until now. Jacqui's style has such appeal, and from the time I saw her paintings, I knew I wanted some to hang in my home. Over time I was able to acquire a couple of my favorites. I'm surprised myself that these didn't include any of the goddess series nor ones with the swirly stars, which I just love. But these were a couple that really grabbed my attention and became my choices when it came time to select my very favorite. At first I had these hanging on darker plainer walls which really provided a much better setting for the paintings. But I like them better hanging in this room because they have the right mood and colors for the room, and since I hang out here more than anywhere else in the house, I get to enjoy looking at them more.

This is my TV room where I sit with laptop and remote control and keep up with the world. It is a room of whimsy and color with the bright yellow striped walls (painted on - not wallpaper), fun objects like my Book Woman afghan, a pillow that declares "It's Good to Be Queen", Harry Potter book ends, and an elephant lamp. My daughter says it's an Alice in Wonderland room. It's a happy little spot that reflects my attitude, personality, and most of the time my mood.

So for now I'm keeping the artwork here because here is where I like it. One day I'll paint over all these stripes and make a more mature subdued room. And Jacqui's lovely work will have a more suitable background. And I'm sure I'll enjoy it just as well.

Success and weariness

2010-02-14T20:56:00.001-07:00

What a great day it turned out to be. The dinner for my friends was just perfect. We had fun, the food turned out great, and the weather was lovely so there were no worries about travel. That shrimp recipe is a keeper although I cut way back on the Tabasco and it was still spicy enough.

I ended up making it a sit-down dinner served buffet style since there was too much food to manage on little plates. I didn't deviate much from the menu I had planned. With the extra half of cake mix that wasn't used in the Yummy Dessert, I made a birthday cake for one of the guests whose birthday is this month. I found the cutest candles that were in the shapes of the letters Happy Birthday, but boy did those melt down fast! We laughed that she hardly got a chance to blow any of them out. I also added chocolate-dipped strawberries since I had bought fresh strawberries instead of frozen for the dessert.

Since it was an afternoon do, I invited my son and granddaughter later in the evening and we did the whole meal again. I sent leftovers home with them and still have some for myself tomorrow.

It really pays off to plan and write things out. Once I settled on the menu, I had a shopping list and a preparation schedule covering two days. With all the thinking done in advance, it becomes a simple matter of following the plan.

I'm sorry to say I didn't get a picture of the meal. Only the aftermath. The new kitchen got a real workout. Me, too. I think I'm ready for bed. So glad tomorrow is an extra day off this weekend.

Wishing love to all this Valentine's Day

2010-02-13T23:16:00.000-07:00

For those of us who won't receive valentine wishes from a love, here's a pretty, melancholy love song. I bought myself some pretty flowers and invited friends over for a party. What did you do for yourself today?

Sunday Afternoon Wine and Hors D'oeuvres

2010-02-13T07:39:00.001-07:00

This little party is for some of the very most special people in my life -- my best friend of over 50 years, her sister, their husbands and their mother. These are people I am most comfortable with and, thus, I'm not feeling such pressure about the party preparations as I might for other groups. I know if there are failures, we'll all laugh about them and it will not be traumatic. I decided on hors d'oeuvres so we wouldn't be bound to sitting at the table but could relax in the living room or even walk around outside if the weather is as nice as promised. I'm having it mid-afternoon on Sunday because of issues with the freeway construction - so my friends won't have to navigate that confusing route in the dark.

The setting will be informal, but the food will be special. Here's the menu. If I happen to get photos, I'll post them later:

Swedish Meatballs in sauce
Shrimp (Killer Shrimp recipe)
Red beans and rice
Veggie platter with dip
Garlic bread, oven toasted
Cheese plate w/ dried fruit
Selection of wines, beer, soft drinks

Dessert: Cake (Yummy Dessert)
Coffee and tea

The meal is a combination of pre-prepared foods and some actual cooking on my part. I'm getting the meatballs and sauce already prepared from the deli. The red beans and rice is the Zatarain's (yes, from a package, but really very good). The shrimp is a new recipe I found online, but I'm not nervous about trying it as the ingredients are quite simple and it is wonderfully easy to prepare ahead and cook at the last minute. The veggie platter will include some lovely blanched and chilled asparagus spears, jicama, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots and celery, all prepared the day before. The cheese platter will have just two or three selections -- whatever looks good when I'm shopping on Saturday. The hot dishes will be served in crock pots - everything is served buffet style. This interesting shrimp recipe bakes in the oven, so I won't be standing over a hot saute pan while I'm also visiting with my guests. I know it's against all the rules to try out a new recipe on guests - but that has never stopped me.

Here are the recipes:
-----------------------
Killer Shrimp

1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chili sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 lemon, sliced with peel
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 small Anaheim chile pepper, chopped (optional)
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Tabasco pepper sauce
1 pound large shrimp with tails (peeled and deveined), uncooked
French Bread for dipping

In a large saucepan over medium heat, simmer butter, olive oil, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, lemon, garlic, parsley, Anaheim chile, red pepper flakes, oregano and Tabasco until well blended. Remove from heat and let cool. Place sauce in a zip-lock bag; add shrimp. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place sauce and shrimp in a large shallow baking pan; bake approximately 10 to 15 minutes or until shrimp are opaque in center (cut to test). Remove from oven.

Place mixture in shallow bowls and serve with a crusty French bread for dipping in sauce (this dish is eaten with your fingers).
Serves 4 to 6.

------------------------
Yummy Dessert

1 white cake mix
8 ounces cream cheese
1 pint cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 package Junket dessert
1 cup fresh or frozen fruit

Use half of the cake mix and bake in a 13" x 9" pan. Cool. Whip the cream to peaks gradually adding in the sugar. Fold in the softened cream cheese. Spread this mixture over the cake and chill. Make the Junket dessert using 1 1/2 cups water (or about 3/4 of the water called for). Add the fruit to the Junket and spread evenly over the cake. Chill for several hours.

If you wonder what I'll do with the other half of the cake mix, I'll bake it, too, and cut it into squares to freeze. Those plain cake squares are a nice accompaniment to morning coffee now and then.

Relationships

2010-02-08T07:25:00.002-07:00

Someone said to me yesterday in regards to my current relationship that maybe I'm just "voting present". I think perhaps I am. And I was reminded of the joke Woody Allen tells at the end of the movie "Annie Hall", still one of my favorite movies

. . . this guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, "Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken." And, uh, the doctor says, "Well, why don't you turn him in?" The guy says, "I would, but I need the eggs." Well, I guess that's pretty much now how I feel about relationships; y'know, they're totally irrational, and crazy, and absurd, and... but, uh, I guess we keep goin' through it because, uh, most of us... need the eggs

I guess we do.

Just when you think nothing will ever surprise you again . . .

2010-02-02T00:02:00.000-07:00

. . . your daughter and her boyfriend get married secretly (today) and then announce it to the world on Facebook. Nope, didn't even call mom first. I had to read it on Facebook. They knew I would and they thought it would be fun and funny.

And it was sort of funny. I'm reading the News Feed and see familiar Zach and it says Zach and Jenn are married, and I'm thinking, "I know that." And then I realize I DON'T know that, and read it again. Ho-ly smokes! And then I'm on the phone to my daughter.

It's not how I imagined my daughter's wedding at all. But it's not about me after all, now is it? And as she points out, it's exactly how her father and I were married -- secretly, telling no-one until afterward. But we didn't announce it on Facebook. Although, as Jenn pointed out, "You would have, mom, if you had had Facebook."

And so maybe I would have.

I'm thrilled and happy for them both. Zach is a great guy and I have felt for a long time as if he were part of the family. This just makes it legal and official. I couldn't be happier about it.

Still . . . just getting used to the news.

Luncheon Recipes

2010-01-30T11:59:00.003-07:00

Well, everything is ready and my friends don't arrive for another hour, so I thought I'd share today's menu and one very special recipe, as promised. I didn't prepare any appetizers, so I put out some corn chips and tortilla chips and bean dips and salsa to nibble on while we chat. Here's the menu:

Luncheon
Chicken cashew salad sandwiches
Broccoli cranberry salad
Pomegranate Lemonade
Ice cream with raspberries and
butter cookies

The only thing I prepared from scratch was the broccoli salad. It's a make-ahead dish, so I had it done and in the refrigerator last night. Here's the recipe:

Broccoli Cranberry Salad

Toss together:
5 cups broccoli florets cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup red onions, chopped
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 cup bacon cooked crisp and crumbled (optional)
1 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (Craisins)

Separately, mix together dressing:
1 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Salt only if needed.

Mix dressing with salad ingredients and refrigerate.

For the sandwiches today, I just bought the chicken salad already made from the deli and added cashews. I ran to my favorite bakery this morning to pick up the best, flakiest croissants.

The pomegranate lemonade was just something I ran across in the grocery store and decided to try out. The friends I'm having over today are teetotalers, so no alcohol will be served.

I couldn't find a prepared raspberry sauce for my dessert. I would normally make it from fresh raspberries, but since they are out of season and quite expensive right now, I decided on just putting the fresh raspberries alone over vanilla ice cream and skipping the extra raspberries for making a sauce. But then I had a little brainstorm and tried cooking some raspberry jam thinned with a little water and heated until bubbly. I'll admit I had a scoop of vanilla ice cream last night just to try it out and it was wonderful.

I did mess up my kitchen a bit last night what with bacon spatters on the stove and all sorts of chopping implements. But, of course, it spiffed up quite nicely.

Bye for now, the guests will be here soon.

Par-tay

2010-01-28T18:37:00.002-07:00

Well, I've promised a lot of people I'd invite them over once the kitchen was done. So I've started what will be a whole string of dinners, luncheons, brunches, and cocktail parties. Well that sounds a lot more than it really is. So far it's just one each of those. I do have more promises to keep, and that will probably mean two or three more dinners for six at a time - about my max. I've already had one dinner and have two events lined up this weekend and one for Valentine's day. This is more entertaining than I've done in any single year for the past several years now. So this will not only break in my kitchen, it will break me in as well to begin having people into the house again.

In looking for a picture for this post, I've run across some great dinners already planned out with easy recipes included. This one pictured here is one I think I will try except will substitute green beans sauteed in garlic and olive oil instead of the deep-fried green bean frites (those things in the picture that look like a glass full of little fish).

Bon Appetite!

A nice place for working

2010-01-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

I finally moved my computer upstairs to my little office. I snapped a photo as I walked across the hall to work this morning. It is such a change from the dark basement. When the sun comes up, I'll open the curtains. The window isn't distracting, but I can turn and look out and see the lake and Antelope Island and the current weather.

This room is finished except for the ties I still need to get to organize all the ugly cords at the back of the desk.

I have also finished rearranging things and hanging some art, etc. in the bedroom. That's now finished, too, but no pics, sorry, too private. Now I need to turn my attention to the little TV room which has been serving many purposes during the remodel. It just needs some spiffing up. With that the upstairs rooms are all finished. That's not to say all the closets and drawers are tidied up, too. No, there's still plenty to do there. And now that I'm not working in the basement, I can start to change those remaining rooms as well. But it will be nice that life is not disrupted by that project.

There is a calmness in my little office that soothes my soul. I loved walking to work today.

The shuffle game

2010-01-21T16:15:00.000-07:00

Remember this little puzzle from years gone by? I haven't seen one of these in a long time. The idea is to slide the numbers around until they are good and scrambled, and then put them in order again. I sat through many a church meeting entertaining myself with one of these. I remember reaching a point where it was no longer a challenge as I knew every trick needed to get a number into place.

This is sort of what I've been doing in my house since finishing the kitchen. Office supplies belong in the office, not the kitchen. Food belongs in the pantry, not the linen closet. Towels belong in the linen closet, not in the armoire. And so on. As one thing gets moved to its final place, its former space is opened up and something else can go there. The whole goal now is 'a place for everything, and everything in its place'.

Just like with the number puzzle, this means sometimes things will get moved to a temporary place to allow some organization elsewhere. So some things are getting moved temporarily to the downstairs bedroom. Eventually that room will get my attention.

I actually started this whole process a number of years ago after my kids moved out and left rooms full of stuff for me to deal with. At first I didn't want to get rid of their things. But they didn't want them--they had no room for them in their new digs. So I stored many things. I finally figured out it was only necessary to save a few meaningful things and not their entire childhoods. And little by little I've dejunked and decluttered. And now I'm nearly to the end of it. It has been a long haul. Along the way I've improved the house in big and small ways and tried to maintain everywhere else.

These past two weeks have been all about organization. I keep too many things in too many different places. For example I have DVDs in three different rooms. Why? I guess when things were more crowded, I just stuck things where there was some space. A cupboard here, a drawer there.

However, remember that number puzzle? How easy it was to do the first three rows. But oh my, finishing the job required some real thinking. I believe this organization step will be like that. Just like everything else, the 80/20 rule applies here, too.

Want a little fun? Here's an online version of that number puzzle. Sadly I've forgotten all my tricks.

The Dining Room

2010-01-19T05:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I finally picked up some extra heavy-duty picture-hanging hardware. The painting I decided to hang in the dining room weighs 25 pounds - a very heavy frame obviously. I hadn't really thought about the weight when I chose that frame. But it does make the dining room start to look finished now. With the hutch moved closer to the living room, I need to put something in the corner to balance the height -- maybe a tall plant or a corner etegere. I notice how funny my dining table looks with all the extra leafs (leaves?) removed. I think I'll put one back in.

More about this beautiful original oil painting here.

Too close for comfort

2010-01-17T21:52:00.006-07:00

A terrible thing has happened in my neighborhood. I don't know the details yet, that will come later. I just know many many emergency vehicles raced past my house. I saw the flames and smoke and took a picture. It made me tremble with fear for the people involved. It's still smoking but no more flames. I feel great unease.

UPDATE: KSL News says it was a house fire at about 100 David Way. That's just over one block from my house. One disturbing point in the news story was that the fire was difficult to fight because the hydrant was not working properly. We'll want to be knowing more about that. Unfortunately for the family, the house is a total loss.

Blah

2010-01-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit under the weather for a week now. It's one of those mild little things that you almost don't notice, except once in awhile you feel like you should lie down and rest. I felt so much better yesterday, I ran around and got many errands done. By early evening, I was feeling wiped out and went to bed early only to be kept awake for hours by the neighbor's dog barking. This morning I really have the blahs and can't decide if I feel sick enough to go in to the clinic this week or not. But since the clinic is closed today and tomorrow (holiday here), I'll just wait it out and see if this thing passes. I had another big agenda today, but I'm thinking it might be smarter in the long run to really rest. That's such a hard thing for me to do.

Winter grays

2010-01-10T07:24:00.005-07:00

Outlook
Our Air Quality here along the Wasatch Front is measured as the "worst" in the USA today. Unfortunately, no improvement is anticipated until Wednesday when a moderate sized Pacific storm will move through the Great Basin. Temperatures are moderating a little, but still remain below normal.

In the northern Utah mountains we have a weather phenomenon known as the 'inversion', in which cold stale air gets trapped in the valleys, while the clear sunny and warmer air can be found only at the higher elevations. Without storms the inversion turns into smog, fed by regular fog from the lake and wetlands, and pollution from cars, heating, and industry. The air becomes toxic and we are advised not to drive, if possible, and people with lung problems such as athsma are advised to stay indoors. Wood burning in fireplaces and stoves is prohibited. You can see, taste, and smell the air. We hope for a storm to blow the gunk away.

Our air quality index in Salt Lake and Cache counties right now is the worst in the nation. We've had that distinction several times this winter. But right now it's about as bad as it ever gets. It's typical January, but it seems this year it has lasted longer than normal. Maybe I'm just noticing it more. But I'm longing for some blue sky.

So today's weather forecast makes me hopeful. Wednesday a storm is predicted and with temps above freezing, it will be one of those "rain in the valleys, snow in the mountsins" perfect kind of storms we love. It will clear out the gunk, will melt away some of the snow on the ground that's looking dirty, and will add to the snowpack in the mountains which we need so much for our summertime water.

I feel hopeful.

Day Whatever: Finished!

2010-01-07T16:19:00.003-07:00

The electrician came today and finished all the remaining jobs. That inlcuded putting up new lights in the bedrooms and running a phone line to my new upstairs office (I know, not part of the kitchen, but after all might as well while he's here). Actually they still need to seal the grout for floor and backsplash, but that won't take long. It will happen tomorrow while I'm away - it's one of those days I have to actually drive in to the office.

So here is a pic. More later if I get time. I'm ready to take possession and start acting like it's MY kitchen and not something associated with this steady stream of men I've had in and out of my house for the past month.

I can't believe it's really done! *tears of joy*

More pics

Island

Pots and Pans Storage

Trash and Recycling Rollout

Spice Rack

Corner

Pantry Rollout Shelves

Nighttime

Remember where we started?

Resolutions

2010-01-01T21:52:00.001-07:00

I believe in resolutions. They are sort of like lists. Once you write them down, they are there reminding you of what you wanted to do. I don't believe people ever truly fail at keeping their resolutions either. I think they may not meet the full potential, but almost everyone at least takes a step or two in the right direction, and that's a good thing.

So, while other people may have given up on making resolutions, I make them every year -- I actually write them down and read them from time to time. And like everyone else, I rationalize when I don't quite measure up.

Last year I had four main goals which I wrote in my private blog/journal for my eyes only. When I looked back at those today, I realized how well I had done with goals involving 'doing' and not so well with goals related to my own well-being. I completed the house goal which was really three things in itself, cleaning out the garage at last, turning the little bedroom into an office, and the big one now just wrapping up, remodeling the kitchen. I saw moderate success in my goal to memorize more piano music, and the side benefit was that all that repetition greatly improved my playing. I did nothing to improve my current relationship. We plod along just the same, happy together but with no future in it for either of us. I am content enough in the relationship to feel no urgency to change and will probably continue on until he really does move away.

The big failure was in caring for my own health. I did fine for six months. But after Doug died, I went off the deep end in several ways. I lapsed into some old thinking that it didn't really matter. I gained some weight, I stopped walking, I lost track of my good eating habits. Then when I started the kitchen remodel, things got worse. I felt sort of trapped in my little TV room because of the chaos elsewhere, and I spent too much time on the computer and watching TV. All along I've been wanting to turn things around, but just couldn't. But I think the new year and the end of the big kitchen project is a chance to make a change in my life again.

In retrospect, all my successes amount to nothing if I don't take care of myself. I've reached the age where people start having serious health issues. I'm fortunate to have none as yet. If I want to stay healthy, I need to make it a priority.

And that brings me to this year's resolution: Take care of Becky first.

This year I will make it a priority to take care of my physical, mental, and emotional needs. That's pretty broad, I know, but I'll add specifics to the plan as I go along. I'll continue making lists, I know that. My lists are what drive me to getting things done. But this year, every list I write, will start with things I will do for myself. Not in a selfish way, but in a self-concerned way.

Today I started with a little pampering with a long soak in a hot tub enhanced with some lovely minerals from the spa, running the jets for a little while, too. I rarely take time for such a luxury, and the result today was a relaxed and mellow me. The day was spent in lovely pursuits and a perfect start to the new year. I feel optimistic and determined. I'm ready to launch into another year, come what may.